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Proceedings of the annual North Carolina Conference on Elementary Education

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Educational Publication No. 146—Div. of Information and Statistics No. 3
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
FIFTH ANNUAL NORTH CAROLINA
CONFERENCE ON
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
(Called Jointly by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction
and the Director of the University Summer School.)
EDITED BY
M. C. S. NOBLE, JR.
Executive Secretary
CHAPEL HILL, N. C, JULY 11-12, 1929
published by the
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Raleigh, N. C.
INTRODUCTION
The rural elementary school, when considered as a unit over the State,
according to all the statistics in this department, is at the bottom of
every ordered classification. This is true in respect to all the following
measures: The length of the term, the housing facilities, the per capita
costs, the classification of children, the grade promotions, the age-grade
tables, the attendance records, and the training of the teachers employed.
From the consideration of all the facts now available, the rural elemen-tary
school seems to be the neglected part of the system.
For the improvement of the conditions under which elementary in-struction
is given the following movements have been inaugurated: For
the extension of the term, for the improvement in teacher training, for
rural school supervision, for library facilities, for standard schools, and
for the enrichment and modification of the curriculum. Each one has
made a contribution.
The Conference on Elementary Education, projected by the joint
agreement of the Director of the University Summer School and the
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, is tending both to clarify
and to unify the thinking in this field. It serves as a clearing house
for the interchange of the best thought. It serves also as a forum in
which the questions arising in connection with the improvement of the
elementary school may be discussed without restraint. There has been
no effort to solidify the deliberations into formal resolutions or state-ments
of objectives which would be binding upon its members. There
are no censors to determine what views are orthodox. On the other
hand, each person is free to present his views in his own way, and to
carry away with him only such impressions as meet his own approval.
It is very gratifying to note the increased interest from year to year.
The discussions show that foundation work is now being done on a wide
scale in North Carolina. The papers presented in the fifth conference
are of an exceptionally high order. In the most instances, they represent
the outcomes of actual field experiences.
Believing that the proceedings of this conference are of permanent
value, I am causing them to be printed in order that they may be avail-able
for the use of all who may be interested in better elementary
education.
The sponsors of this conference are deeply gratified at the fine re-sponse
of the workers in the field of elementary education. The secre-tary
of the conference, Dr. M. C. S. Noble, Jr., has edited the material
in this bulletin. It is presented here as nearly as possible in the exact
form in which each author prepared it.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
c
12-5-29—3M.
COMMITTEE IN CHARGE OF THE PROGRAM FOR THE
CONFERENCE ON ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
R. E. Boyd
E. C. Brooks
Annie Cherry
John H. Cook
B. B. Daugherty
Pauline Edwards
Executive Committee
A. T. Allen
N. W. Walker
M. C. S. Noble, Jr.
Advisory Committee
Mary Fitzgerald
W. H. Frazer
W. P. Grier
Ruth Heilig
Louisa Hill
H. T. Hunter
Mary Knight
Bertha Lawrence
John C. Lockhart
Estelle Rawls
J. M. Shields
P. C. Stringfield
Robert H. Wright
Presiding Officers at Regular Sessions
E. J. Coltrane
John Carr
G. B. Phillips
J. T. Jerome
Summarizers of Discussions
A. T. Allen
W. H. Frazer
R. H. Wright
N. W. Walker
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The Executive Committee of the Fifth Annual North Carolina Con-ference
on Elementary Education wishes to extend its thanks:
1. To the members of the Advisory Committee who rendered many
valuable suggestions in connection with the preparation of the
Program.
2. To the following persons who assisted in summarizing for the
Conference the achievements of the separate Sessions: Dr. A. T.
Allen, Dr. W. H. Frazer, Dr. Robert H. Wright, and Dean N. W.
Walker.
3. To the four chairmen who presided so efficiently over the regular
sessions of the conference, namely: Supt. E. J. Coltrane, Dr.
John Carr, Supt. Guy B. Phillips, and Supt. J. T. Jerome; and
to Mr. Robert House who served as host and toastmaster at the
conference dinner.
4. To those persons who presented papers during the Conference, and
5. To all persons whose interest in elementary education caused them
to attend and participate in the Fifth Annual Conference on
Elementary Education.
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
FIFTH ANNUAL NORTH CAROLINA CONFER-ENCE
ON ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
FIRST SESSION
Solving Problems of Retardation in the Elementary Schools in Such
a Way as to Further Child Development
E. J. Coltrane, Presiding Officer
Page
1. Reducing the Percentage of Retardation in the First Grades—Mary E. Leeper S
2. Reducing Retardation Through the Classification of the Six-Year-Old
—
Mrs. H. T. Latham . 7
3. Reducing Retardation Through the Establishment of Opportunity Classes for Pupils Who
Are Mentally Proficient but Who, for Various Reasons, Have Lost Some Ground
—
M. R. Trabue ._... 9
4. Reducing Retardation in Edgecombe County by Means of a County Wide Survey
—
W. H. Pittman 1
1
5. Reducing Retardation in Craven County Through a Study of Problem Cases in Craven
County—R. S. Proctor , 13
6. Pupils Cumulative Permanent Records as a Means of Reducing Retardation
—
H. F. Srygley ... 15
SECOND SESSION
Some Phases of Child Development
John Carr, Presiding Officer
1. Radio in Education—H. K. Carpenter 20
2. How to Help the Elementary School Child in Developing Art Appreciation
—
Lydia A. Bancroft 22
3. How an Analysis of Health Education in a North Carolina County May Further the
Development of Children of Elementary School Age Within That County
—
Nettie Brogdon _ 24
4. The Emotional Development of the Child of Elementary School Age—Frazer Hood 27
5. How to Aid the Elementary School Child in Developing Character—K. C. Garrison 29
6. How to Aid the Elementary School Child in Developing Proper Social Attitudes
—
Mrs. Gladys Hoagland Groves 31
THIRD SESSION
Methods of Instruction for Furthering Child Development
Guy B. Phillips, Presiding Officer
1. An Activity Program in Mecklenburg, County Schools—Eloise Rankin 33
2. Free Activity Work in the Elementary Grades—Annie Wilcox 35
3. An Activity Program for Primary Departments—-Mrs. James A. Robinson 38
4. Big Unit Teaching in the Elementary Grades—Karl Adams 40
5. Recreational Reading in the "Grammar Grades—Grace Brunson . 43
6. Standard Elementary Schools in North Carolina—Susan Fulghum 45
7. Some Attainable Objectives in Six Supervisory Activities in the Elementary Grades
Mary L. Knight .- . 47
FOURTH SESSION
Solving Administrative Problems of the Elementary School
in Such a Way as to Further Child Development
J. T. Jerome, Presiding Officer
1. Supervision in a Union School by One of the Elementary Teachers Who is a Part Time
Principal—Gladys Thoroughgood _ * 52
2. Supervision in a Straight Elementary School by a Principal Who is a Full Time Prin-cipal—
Sallie B. Marks — -__ 54
3. Analysis of the Duties of a Union School Principal With Specific Reference to Child
Development—R. G. Anders 55
4. Ways by Which the Superintendent of a Supervised County May Aid His Principals in
Furthering Child Development—John C. Lockhart .. _..... 58
5. Ways by Which the Superintendent of an Unsupervised County May Aid His Principals
in Furthering Child Development—K. R. Curtis 60
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
SOLVING PROBLEMS OF RETARDATION IN THE
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN SUCH A WAY AS
TO FURTHER CHILD DEVELOPMENT
REDUCING THE PERCENTAGE OF RETARDATION
IN THE FIRST GRADE
(Mary E. Leeper, Director, Park Avenue Kindergarten,
Asheville, N. C.)
Foreword: Before any intelligent steps can be taken toward improv-ing
a condition, the underlying cause, or causes, must be discovered and
faced. Answers to the question, "What are the causes of retardation in
the First Grade," from approximately fifty people representing school
executives and teachers, group themselves under four main heads, namely:
(1) Poor teaching, (2) Undesirable home conditions, (3) Physical unfit-ness,
and (4) Lack of reading readiness.
I. Poor Teaching: On the first cause, poor teaching, I wish you might
have heard a lecture given last week by Dr. Trabue before the N. E. A.
in Atlanta, on "Training the Teachers of Young Children." Some of the
points he stressed particularly were: (1) Giving, by selection, the privi-lege
of this training only to those showing special abilities and power
for the work. (2) Intensive, practical training. (3) More opportunities
for practice teaching, with large groups of children, in public school
situations.
II. Undesirable Home Conditions: When discussing undesirable home
conditions as a second cause of retardation, we would remember the
homes found in every community where children are being reared in
wholesome, normal, happy atmospheres; where intelligent cooperation is
given to the school. But there are also homes where barren environment,
ignorance of health principles, lack of mental stimulus, and perhaps,
little moral training, send sadly handicapped children to our first grades.
In homes of this type parents give little understanding or cooperation to
the teacher.
III. Physical Unfitness: Physical unfitness, the third cause of re-tardation
mentioned, might, in many cases, also be traced to unfavorable
home conditions. This is the cause which our medical friends would have
us think most important. Inability to do easily the work of the first
grade is sometimes due to physical defects, to anemic condition, or to a
lowered vitality. Certainly no child should be expected to do good work
who, perhaps, does not see well, or hear well, or who must be absent a
great deal because of illness. In the majority of cases this unfitness can
be removed by proper attention.
In our present scheme of things the child may have medical care
from the State until he is one year of age, then he must shift for himself
until he enters school and comes again under the supervision of health
authorities. It is in this in-between period that so often slight defects
become real handicaps. Eyes, teeth, and tonsils, must be examined and
necessary corrections made. The forming and practicing of good health
6 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
habits in these early years can accomplish much if cooperation is secured
between the efforts of teacher, nurse, doctor, parents, and child. But the
time to do this is not while he is making his first-grade adjustments.
It must be done earlier.
IV. Lack of Reading Readiness: We now come to the fourth out-standing
cause of retardation in the first grade, namely, the lack of
reading readiness. And what is reading readiness? Is it not the desire
within the child to be able to learn to know for himself what is on the
printed page?
How many children entering the first grade have this readiness, or
desire, or urge? Do the majority of them love books and know how to
handle them? Do they listen to and enjoy stories told or read to them?
Do they like and know any rhymes or poems? Have they vocabularies
broad enough and experiences varied and rich enough to bring under-standing
and meaning to the reading of the stories? Are they skilled
in clear pronunciation and enunciation? Do pictures interest them and
stimulate creative language work? Have they formed the habit of think-ing
through hard problems? Have they had the opportunity of working,
playing, and living with large groups of children near their own age, so
that first grade adjustments, both social and emotional, are smoothly
made? You will agree with me that unfortunately this is not what we
find, but just the opposite. And what do we do about it?
The majority of our first grade teachers do violate, and are sometimes
compelled to ignore, the first fundamental law of learning, and thrust
large groups of these children into formal reading, forcing upon them
all the mechanics that will be necessary if they are to "make the grade."
What are the results? Many slow, stumbling, ineffective, unhappy
word-callers, who have no permanent interest in reading, and a resulting
distaste for it; children who have acquired a keen sense of their own
inability to do what is required of them. They are marked at school
and censored at home. They mistrust their own powers and quite often
cover up their bitterness of heart at being left back, by saying, "I don't
care." Too often this grows into a reality, and something happens to
those children that can never be undone.
V. Pre-School Education: Facing these causes of retardation, we
might stand appalled were it not for the hope we can see in the "Junior
Primary," the "Lower Primary," the "Kindergarten," or whatever name
you may care to give to the period of time preceding the child's entrance
into the first grade, regardless of his chronological age.
Here the child may be,—under the leadership and guidance of a
carefully selected, scientifically trained teacher—in an environment that
is stimulating him to develop into a child free from physical handicaps;
a child who by daily exercise is constantly strengthening the fixation
of desirable health habits. By participating in the interesting happenings
of the group, he is building up from within attitudes of interest and love
for school, an eagerness to know how to read, self-responsibility, and the
ability to render constructive judgment of his own work and that of the
work of others. He is acquiring and strengthening day by day, habits
of prompt and regular attendance, of persistent effort in working out
difficulties, of independence of thought and action; of industry and con-centration.
His knowledge is growing daily through stories, songs, poems,
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 7
rhymes, games, and dramatizations. Well-planned excursions give him
real experiences to talk about, and a richer background. His vocabulary-grows;
his pronunciation and enunciation improve, and symbols hold real
meaning for him.
Those who observe closely and follow day by day can surely see the
overcoming of undesirable home conditions, the changing of the physically
unfit into strong, happy, alert children, and the daily growth of attitudes,
habits and knowledge that make for strong reading readiness. So shall
they enter the first grade, able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the
others, and with heads up.
VI. Pre-School Education in Asheville: In Asheville the kindergartens
are a part of the public school system. Our primary supervisor has been
watching the retardation problem closely and reports as follows:
1. Classification tests were given all the children entering the first
grade in 1927. 24% of the children who had at least one semester in
kindergarten were found to belong to the A group; while only 14% of
the non-kindergarten children met the requirements of that group. At
this time definite and concerted efforts were made to improve the work
of the kindergartens, especially along the lines of reading readiness.
Additional standards and goals were set up, and a new curriculum
worked out.
2. In 1929 the classification tests given the first grade entrants re-vealed
the follewing: (a) 48% of the children from the kindergarten
belonged to the A group, while only 12% of the non-kindergarten children
fell into that classification, (b) In June, 1929, 25% of the non-kinder-garten
children in the first grade failed to "make their grade," as against
10% of children who had been in kindergartens, (c). In January, 1928,
36% of the first grade children were retarded. In June, 1929, the per-centage
had dropped to 17.5, slightly over one-half.
Improvements in the first grades were no doubt partially responsible
for this decrease; but a comparison of retardations between the kinder-garten
and the non-kindergarten groups, 25% as against 10%, would
seem to indicate and prove that the kindergarten was a large contribut-ing
factor in reducing the percentage of retardation.
In view of these findings, do you not think that pre-first grade train-ing
reduces retardation in such a way as to further child development?
REDUCING RETARDATION THROUGH THE CLASSIFICATION
OF THE SIX-YEAR-OLD
(Mrs. H. T. Latham, the Washington Public Schools,
Washington, N. C.)
To reduce retardation and to help retarded children are matters of
much importance in the schools of Washington, North Carolina. Having
studied the types of retarded children and noted the causes of retardation,
we are to some extent prepared, at the beginning of the school year, as
to what to expect in the first grade.
The John H. Small School is organized on the homogeneous grouping
plan. The first grade has five sections. At the beginning of school these
8 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
children are divided alphabetically for these sections. At the end of the
first week The Pinter Cunningham Test is given to four of these sections.
The fifth section is in the second year of first grade work and has had
this test the previous year. These four grades then receive the new
children according to their ability as shown by this test.
But not even a test can always judge the mind of a child. We know
their ways are past finding out. To meet this expected condition, a
second test—the "Detroit First Grade Test"—is given at the end of six
weeks. By this time the teacher who has watched her children closely,
has found hidden qualities or perhaps handicaps that may not be easily
overcome and with this information added to the test, a reclassification
is made. This classification now gives us the X section, those with the
highest I. Q.; the Y section, those with good I. Q. ; the Z section, those
whose I. Q.'s are below average; the special section which is a subnormal
group and unable to do a year's work in first grade; and still another
section consisting of the previous year's special section with a few
repeating pupils from other sections.
The children of a homogeneous group work better together. Bright
children often overshadow the slow ones, and the slow ones become even
more reticent alongside the bright ones. Every little child wants to be
in the "high" section even though she knows nothing of its work, or
demands, and often a precocious miss, boasts that she is in a "higher"
grade than her little neighbor. These troubles are eliminated, quite
often, after the second classification.
The course of study is planned as nearly as possible to meet the
abilities of each group. The methods of presenting the subject matter
differ in the sections. The amount of work varies greatly; the highest
section sometime covering four times the- amount of work done in the
lowest section.
The first three sections follow the same course in proportion to
ability. In another section, are children who are doing the regular work
but taking two years for it. Yet, they are not repeating the same work
but are those who have come up from the lowest or fifth section of the
preceding year. The reading matter as well as the nature work and
geography is new material.
In the fifth section are subnormal children. The mental ages of
these children are about four or five years. Yet, all of these are over
six years of age. Most of these advance to the higher first grade, at the
end of the first year. Some extreme cases remain in the same grade.
This is really the problem room but to see them at work, happy, in a
congenial atmosphere, doing their best—though such a small bit may
seem to be accomplished—is an inspiration to other teachers to work
more than ever with the minds that can receive. These little children
are never made to feel that they "are different." They are so often
praised, I sometimes think they will develop a superiority complex. These
children are of pre-school age mentally and the work here is to build
up a large speaking vocabulary, to widen experiences, to adjust them
to school life and school spirit, and to prepare them for first grade work.
Hygienic measures and health laws are taught, and aids to physical
defects are given wherever possible.
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 9
At the end of the year a final achievement test—Gates' Primary
Test—is given. This divides the five first grades into three groups for
second grade work, and a fourth or special grade composed of first and
second grade subnormals and misfits.
The other grades from second to ninth inclusive are divided into X,
Y, Z, sections. The subnormals are placed in ungraded rooms in three
groups, one primary, one grammar grade, and one Junior High School,
the work for each section adjusted to the ability of the group.
A two-fold benefit arises from this grouping, namely: (1) a benefit
to the group itself, and (2) a benefit to the rest of the grades. The
fact that they are so divided does not prevent retardation, but proper
sectioning does make health, ability, diverse interests, and other class-room
problems much easier to solve and also reduces the number of
problems for any one teacher to solve. These children are taught to
cooperate with each other. Initiative is developed, and they have a
feeling of success because of being able to accomplish the work assigned,
whereas they would become discouraged in a fast-moving group. Self-reliance
and a good civic attitude are encouraged; and extreme school
loyalty is much in evidence.
Six years ago, before sectioning was tried in our school, 142 children
repeated the grades. Two years ago there were 85. This year, with 860
children enrolled, thei*e are only 20 repeating the grades.
REDUCING RETARDATION THROUGH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF
OPPORTUNITY CLASSES FOR PUPILS WHO ARE MENTALLY
PROFICIENT, BUT WHO, FOR VARIOUS REASONS,
HAVE LOST SOME GROUND
(M. R. Trabue, Chairman, Division of Elementary Education,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C.)
I assume that when we speak tonight of "reducing retardation" we
mean reducing the number of pupils who are older than a specified
normal age for the school grade in which they are classified. I assume
that the phrase "lost some ground," as it appears in my topic, also refers
to the fact that certain pupils are older than a specified normal age
for their grade. The "various reasons" which have caused them to lose
ground, or to grow older than the normal age before being promoted,
are not defined.
My topic states that these people are mentally proficient. I assume
that this phrase is intended to signify that they would, if measured by
the Stanford-Binet Test, show an I. Q. somewhere above .70 or .75.
Having stated my understanding of the meaning of my topic, I am
now ready to make my speech. It is very brief, but it gives my views
on this topic quite fully. I am in favor of "reducing retardation through
the establishment of opportunity classes for pupils who are mentally
proficient, but who, for various reasons, have lost some ground." I am
in favor of any improvement in the public schools in North Carolina that
will make these schools serve more adequately the needs of North Caro-lina
boys and girls.
10 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
Now that I have made my speech and have a few moments left, I
want to say something about retardation or over-ageness. The age-grade
table and the percentage of over-ageness derived from it were
devised about twenty years ago as tentative measures of the degree to
which the schools had adjusted themselves to the abilities and needs of
the boys and girls attending them. There were in those days no scales
or standard tests for measuring objectively the exact achievements of
pupils. The relation of a child's grade to his age was one of the first tests
to be applied in widely separated school systems. It is a crude measure,
depending in each case upon the unpredictable vagaries of many different
teachers. As suggested in the topic on which I was asked to speak,
many pupils have "lost some ground, for various reasons." Promotion
from one grade to another, as practiced in most schools, depends chiefly
upon the subjective judgments of teachers, each of whom uses her own
ideas as standards for determining promotion. Twenty years ago, how-ever,
the age-grade table and the measures to be derived from it were
among the best measures available for determining the efficiency of
schools and school systems.
My purpose in mentioning this matter of history is to raise the ques-tion
as to whether the real purpose of tonight's meeting should be merely
to reduce the percentage of pupils listed as over-age for their grades, or
the larger task of improving the organization, the programs, and the
activities of the school in such ways as to make it serve its pupils and
the State more effectively. Retardation is, as I see it, merely one symp-tom
of maladjustment between the school and its pupils. Should we
not consider fundamental issues that will correct the underlying causes
rather than inquire how we may modify mere symptoms?
If we are at all willing to consider the greater problem, the first
fact that we must face is that children differ in their interests, purposes,
and emotions, as well as in their abilities and achievements. It is abso-lutely
impossible to make them equal, and even if we could make them
equal, it would be utterly undesirable in modern life. Industry, society,
democracy, science, and human happiness demand specialization rather
than uniformity in people. And yet our schools maintain their old pro-cedure
of "promoting" or "failing" pupils in terms of standards which
are supposedly uniform, although objective measurements have long ago
proved that they vary widely from teacher to teacher, or from school to
school.
In other words, schools persist even yet in ignoring the fundamental
fact of individual differences. Retardation and its reduction have been
discussed now for twenty years, but the schools have practically the
same percentage of retardation today as they had twenty years ago,
because they are still using a thoroughly antiquated and outworn pro-motion-
and-failure system. Individual differences in children can never
be eradicated, but it is conceivable that classification schemes might be
changed. Until the schools realize that human nature will not change,
and that the schools must therefore adapt themselves to it, retardation
will continue to flourish. I am not greatly alarmed at the amount of retar-dation,
but I am deeply distressed at the complacency with which school
men continue to disregard the needs of society and the happiness of
children.
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 11
Why should a pupil who has done his best ever fail? If the school
makes a requirement which the pupil cannot meet, it is the school and
not the child that has failed. Pupils who have the same needs and
abilities should have the same instruction, regardless of the grades in
which they are classified. We now have objective means for measuring
the achievements of pupils in various fields, and the records needed by
the school should be kept in terms of these objective scales rather than
in terms of the subjective estimates of teachers.
In short, the promotion or failure of a pupil should be determined
by reference to his own growth' in character and ability rather than in
terms of any previously determined uniform standards in subject matter.
Each pupil should work with other pupils at the tasks which have
greatest value to him and at the difficult level which will be most helpful
to him, regardless of the grade or class to which he belongs. Whether
a pupil is classified as in the second grade or in third-year high school,
if he has a given degree of ability in reading, his instruction in reading
should be at such a level as will help him to make actual progress in
that field. How one is classified should have nothing whatever to do
with the kind of school work he is doing, while what he needs and can
do should have everything to do with it. Such a program would require
school officials to know objectively the various abilities and needs of each
pupil, and to provide a more flexible educational program than is now
offered, but it would throw the emphasis on the child and his welfare
rather than leave it as it now rests upon imaginary standards in subject
matter hidden away somewhere in the dark recesses of the minds of
innumerable teachers.
REDUCING RETARDATION IN EDGECOMBE COUNTY BY MEANS
OF A COUNTY-WIDE SURVEY
(W. H. Pittman, Superintendent of Edgecombe County Schools,
Tarboro, N. C.)
I. Causes of Retardation: Our study of retardation and repeating was
made in December, 1928. We knew many children were retarded and
that we could not promote many children. We considered it a worthy
undertaking to try to find as definitely as possible the precise status of
our backward children and to determine the causes of retardation as
fully as we could from the teacher's opinion of each individual. The
teachers in rural schools know not only the child and his school record
but in large measure know his home environment also.
The teachers were instructed to assign the causes that contributed to
the retardation of each individual. Blank forms were placed in the
hands of each teacher so prepared as to show the name, age and grade
of each pupil and the cause of that child's retardation. The reports of
the teachers show the grade repeated and the number of times each
retardate repeated any grade or grades. The summary of these reports
showed the causes of retardation in the opinion of our teachers to be as
follows: (1) Irregular attendance, 24.55%; (2) Heavy teacher load,
12 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
22.22%; (3) "Slow to learn," 20.73%; (4) Poor health, 10.34%; (5) Late
entrance, 10.13%; (6) Frequent moving, and (7) Poor teaching. An
amusing feature of these reports was the fact that but three or four
teachers reported poor teaching as a contributing factor in our retard-ation.
These teachers were teaching in their grades for the first time.
II. Retardation: A comparison of age-grade distribution in 1924-1925
and 1928-1929 shows 47.31% over age in 1924-1925 and 37.26% in 1928-
1929; 52.69% were of normal or under age in 1924-1925 while 62.74%
were of normal or under age in 1928-1929. 10% fewer children were
over age in 1928-1929. In 1926-1927 we promoted 61% of the elemen-tary
pupils; in 1927-1928, 59.1%, and in 1928-1929, 66.7%.
We examined the records of 2,171 children. Of these 1,108 or 51.03%
were either repeating their present grades or that had repeated past
grades. Many children have repeated the same grade more than once.
The following percentages of enrollment, by grades, are repeaters:
First grade, 47.5%; second grade 50%; third grade 51.34%; fourth grade
48.3%; fifth grade 57.49%; sixth grade 52.95%; seventh grade 50.27%;
total 51.03%.. The figures were tabulated by schools as well as by
grades and it is interesting to note that Battleboro, our only nine months
school, has the lowest percentage of repeaters of all -our schools.
The 1,108 repeaters had been retaught 1,798 times in their checkered
school careers. It was also revealed that the 1,108 repeaters had repeated
the first grade 882 times; the second grade 337 times; the third grade
264 times; the fourth grade 145 times; the fifth grade 82 times; the
sixth grade 72 times, and the seventh grade 16 times.
III. Outcomes: We are unable to know much of definite results that
have come from our study. We believe, however, that the teachers
achieved a keener insight into the problem of retardation. We feel
confident that each teacher's examination of the whole school record of
each of her children has made it more apparent to her that each child
needs certain individual attention. The attendance record is a powerful
weapon in the hands of the teacher or principal when dealing with an
irate parent whose child failed of promotion. Where tabulations were
completed they were placed in the hands of the teachers and an entire
meeting given to discussions of the problem.
We do not place too great confidence in the weight given by teachers
to the several causes of retardation. Teachers cannot know, for instance,
a great deal about the physical handicaps of their pupils. We used,
however, the results of the study effectively in securing the physical
examination of all our elementary children this spring. We recognize
that poor teaching was not given the value it should have had in this
matter,—but we did not expect much to be reported under this head.
In view of the recently proposed increase in teacher load, the fact that
"crowded conditions" ranks second as a factor contributing to retardation
is enlightening. This is especially true since our study was made before
the Legislature convened. Another vital outcome of our survey is found
in the increased respect that our teachers have for complete and accurate
individual records.
Perhaps the best result has been the emphasis placed upon the fact
that we are dealing with individuals rather than with classes.
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 13
REDUCING RETARDATION IN CRAVEN COUNTY THROUGH
A STUDY OF PROBLEM CASES IN CRAVEN COUNTY
(R. S. Proctor, Superintendent of Craven County Schools,
New Bern, N. C.)
This study was made under the direction of Miss Margaret Hayes,
county supervisor, assisted by elementary teachers in the various grades
of the consolidated schools, the principals, and by the county health officer.
The study was an investigation of children in the elementary grades of
the schools, who for various reasons found difficulty in learning. For quite
a long time these children have given us concern. They made up the
grade repeaters, quite often the discipline problems, and certainly they
tended to take the joy out of what otherwise would have proved an
interesting teaching experience for the teacher.
The reason for the study was to attempt to find out the causes for
slow learning on the part of the pupils investigated and to propose and
apply remedies to the individual pupils in order that learning for them
might become a more pleasant experience and that the per cent of retard-ation
might be reduced. Our feeling was that if this group of children
were given attention in time much repetition of work could be eliminated,
the children could be made more confident of their ability to make prog-ress,
and a larger number of promotions would result.
In the fall of 1928 a conference was held with the grade teachers,
principals, supervisor and health officer to discuss the problem, method
of approach, etc. Each teacher was requested to select her worst case.
The spirit and enthusiasm with which all entered into the problem
i*esulted in an achievement that was hardly thought possible for the
first year.
Following is the line of procedure used in the study of the problem
child:
Collection of Data:
1. Giving intelligence tests to all children selected for investigation.
(54 cases were selected.)
2. Giving achievement tests at the beginning and conclusion of the
study.
3. Distribution of blanks to be filled out by the teacher, calling for
information about the home environment, physical history, mental
history, and pedagogical history of the child.
4. Physical examination of the child by the health officer.
5. Observation of each case as the investigation progresses by the
supervisor of schools.
6. Final estimate of the teacher along with all other data secured at
the conclusion of the study.
Through tests, physical examinations and teachers' investigations, the
following facts were revealed about the 54 cases under consideration:
64.8% had health troubles; 64.8% had vocabulary deficiencies; 63% had
mental deficiencies; 59.3% were deficient in paragraph meaning; 53.7%
were poor in sentence recognition; 51.9% had unfavorable home con-ditions;
40.7% had short memory span; 35.2% showed lack of interest;
24.1% were antagonistic, lazy, misbehaved; 14.5% showed poor attend-
14 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
ance; 11.1% were unable to read; 7.4% confused words; 5.6% were weak
in fundamentals of arithmetic; 5.6% mispronounced words; 3.7% were
timid; 3.7% were weak in spelling; 3.7% had language difficulties; 3.7%
had bad study habits; 3.7% had speech impediments; 3.7% were weak
in earlier stages of arithmetic; and 1.9% had either sex difficulties or
lack of background or used lips in reading, or inserted words in reading,
or read too much. A summary of the difficulties showed that there were
a total of 299 causes and 28 different causes. Each child was handi-capped
by from 2 to 10 causes.
After the causes of the difficulties were found immediate steps were
taken to remedy the situation. Specific remedial work was provided by
the supervisor for each of the causes that had to do with the actual
classroom instruction; the health problems, poor attendance, and unfavor-able
conditions were attacked by teachers, supervisor, health and welfare
officer together. Visits to homes, letters to mothers, conferences with
mothers, were used to bring to parents the necessity of their cooperation
in the undertaking.
The results of the attempt to help this group of children were most
gratifying. Fifty-one of the fifty-four cases came through to the end
of school. Progress made in their work ranged from .5 of a year to
2.8 years. No pupil was promoted on .5 a year's progress; above .5
and below .9 of a year's progress promotion was based upon the teacher's
and supervisor's estimates in connection with all data secured. Above
.9 of a year's progress, promotion was made unconditionally. Thirty-one
children out of the fifty-one cases remaining in school were promoted,
or a promotion of 60% of the cases.
The I. Q. of the group ranged from 63 to 108.2. Eighteen had I. Q.'s
of 90 and above; 18 others I. Q.'s of from 80 to 90, and the remainder
ranged from 63 to 80.
In the matter of promotions: Of those children having I. Q.'s of 90
and above, 11 were promoted, 8 were not. Of those children whose I. Q.'s
ranged from 80 to 90, 10 were promoted, 7 were not. Of those children
whose I. Q.'s were below 80, 11 were promoted, 10 were not.
Records of improvement of 13 children during 1927-1928 (year pre-vious
to the study) and 1928-1929 (year of study) are available and
are of interest:
Child No. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Imp.
1927-1928
.5 year
.5
"
.6
""
.4
"
.7
"
.5
"
.6
"
.4
"
1.1 "
.8
"
1.3
"
.6
"
.1
"
Imp.
1928-1929 Total Imp.
.5 year .0
.6
it
.1
2.8 tt 2.2
1.3
a
.9
1.2 tt
.5
.5
(l
.0
.9
tt
.3
1.7 tt 1.3
1.8 tt
.7
.6
it
.2
.8
tt
.5
1.2 tt
.6
.7
tt
.6
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 15
PUPILS CUMULATIVE PERMANENT RECORDS AS A MEANS
OF REDUCING RETARDATION
(H. F. Srygley, Superintendent Raleigh Public Schools,
Raleigh, North Carolina)
It seems to me in my experience in school work, that we should keep
a very complete record of all children, in order to build up school atti-tudes
and thereby increase the interest in attendance, thus preventing
retardation.
In the Raleigh Public School System, we have worked out a form of
record, whereby we can keep in close touch with the child from the point
of view of his social surroundings, his scholastic attainments and his
health. We have worked out this record under six headings as given
below:
Form I. Personal, Family History, and Home Life.
1. Personal History.
2. Family History.
3. Home Life.
Form II. Scholarship and Attendance Record.
1. Residence Record (Admission and Transfers).
2. Elementary School Record.
3. Junior and Senior High School Record.
4. Grade Progress Table.
5. Statistics following graduation.
Form III. Standard Test Record.
1. Test Data.
a. Achievement Tests.
b. Intelligence Tests.
c. Other Tests.
2. Permanent Progress Chart.
Form IV. Record of Growth in Ideals and Character.
1. Character Ratings.
a. Social Traits.
b. Mental Traits.
c. Emotional Traits.
2. General Strengths and Weaknesses in Character,
a. Series of Memoranda at Infrequent Periods.
Form V. Physical and Health Record.
1. Personal Health History.
2. Family Health History.
3. Child's Health Habits.
4. Physician's Examinations of Records.
5. Serious Ailments—Recommendations and Treatment.
Form VI. Vocational Tendencies and Aptitudes.
1. School Interests.
2. Extra-Curricula Activities.
3. Work Outside School Hours.
4. Vocational Interests and Ambitions.
5. Plans for the Future.
16 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
If we keep track of all of the information contained in the above
outline, we will have an accumulation of records for every child during
his entire school life. These records should be of tremendous value in
making conclusions and measuring all results in public school attendance.
We have been too negligent in the past in recognizing creative work
in childhood. One of the big questions we are facing in our schools, is
how to provide an environment which will foster creative development
for every child in a group. Mass instruction does not fulfill the needs
of the individual, for we are not trying to make poets, artists, sculptors
or writers of the children who are under our care. However, we do hold
to the necessity for developing the creative faculty of each individual
pupil.
We have convictions that every normal individual has to a greater
or lesser degree the impulse to create, but each individual has a question-ing
attitude, and the fullest growth is possible only when the child has
a chance to use his natural creative impulses. If we can collect from
time to time samples of work that are the results of a creative atmos-phere
in the school, we will be able to judge whether or not we are
making progress in an advanced way. Take as an illustration of this,
a collection of poems and natural productions, as well as mechanical
productions, find their way to the scrap heap or waste basket. If a
school could build up a museum of things that have been made by
pupils—poems that have been written, arts that have been produced,
music that has been sung, games that have been devised by the pupils,
these would be of inestimable value in judging the worthwhileness of our
efforts. As another illustration of this matter of keeping records of
pupils, I wish to call the attention of my hearers to the following verses
that have been collected by teachers and placed in permanent form for
future reference:
A first-grade child brought a honeybee for the museum and the follow-ing
resulted:
We hear the honeybee buzz, buzz, buzz,
On the soft summer air,
In the night he sleeps and dreams and dreams,
Of sweet flowers everywhere. —Kern; 7 yrs. of age.
Hum, hum, hum, sings the honeybee,
While he sucks the honey from the flowers,
The flowers made the honey from the April showers. —Dorothy; 6 yrs. of age.
Bailey's white rabbit spent a week in school. When he curled up
on someone's coat for a nap, he looked so cunning that Margery was
moved to say the following:
Bailey has a timid rabbit,
His fur is white as snow.
His eyes are soft, his ears are long,
But his tail is—Oh! so short! —Margery; 7 yrs. of age.
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 17
A second grade, while working with their garden, expressed them-selves
in these verses:
Tulip, tulip, please come up,
Catch the dewdrops in your cup.
It would be very much fun,
To see you nodding to the sun.
Flowers, flowers of every hue,
Red, purple, yellow and blue,
In my little garden grew,
'Til the wind came rushing through.
Since we have been hoeing,
The garden has been growing.
—Thomas Rich.
We have planted lots of seeds,
Now we must pull up all the weeds. —Alda and Virginia.
When airships came over the town:
Seventy airships flew our way,
On a pretty Saturday.
One warm, bright sunny day,
Seventy airships came over this way.
They circled above and all around,
Then they went to another town.—Fred Lee.
April has come to town,
The trees are green,
Flowers are creeping,
From long winter sleeping,
Sunshine has come again. —Lillian Holliday; 4B.
THE DAFFODIL LADY
The Daffodil Lady is pretty and gay,
The Daffodil Lady will swing and sway.
Her yellow gown shines like a crown,
With silver bells shining around.
And she swings her partner to and fro,
And they dance in the sunshine as they go.
—Rose Dell Potter; 4B.
18 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
COLUMBUS
Columbus was a man of old,
He and his sailors were very bold.
One day they sailed the ocean wide,
He and his sailors, side by side.
One day his sailors began to fear,
But Columbus told them land was near.
He saw the birds flying in the sky,
And bits of wood tossed on waves high.
When at last on dry land they rode,
They thanked God for their safe abode.
They put up a cross in the name of Spain,
To show that it was their country's gain.
—Elizabeth Utley, 5B.
THE SEA
Many sorrows has it seen,
Many rocks has it washed clean,
And I'm sure, if it could speak,
It would tell of men that -seek
Other lands in which to dwell,
Men on ships with goods to sell.
Many fish in its waters hide,
Big fish that dart, swim, and glide.
And many a brave sailor has made his grave,
While other lives he tried to save,
And down in the waters so very deep,
Many a captain was made to sleep.—Virginia Thomas; 5A.
THE TREES BEHIND OUR SCHOOL
The trees behind our school
All look so very cool.
While the shadows are long and deep,
All the birds go to sleep.
There is the mighty oak
Which still stands so proud.
No one is allowed
To harm the trees behind our school.
The trees behind our school
Are all around a deep, blue pool,
When the birds come by with a song
The trees invite them to bring their babies along.
We have a garden in one corner.
Our log cabin is in the other.
Neither one is better
Than the trees behind our school.
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 19
All the birds go flying by,
Forming a dim outline in the sky.
On the ground is the grass
Of the very finest class.
This is the bird's playground,
The best ever found.
Please keep this rule,
"Be kind to the trees behind the school."—Charles Swan; 6B.
CALL OF THE WOODS
Oh, I've heard the call of the tall white pine
And the call of the running brook;
I'm tired of tasks which each day are mine,
I am weary of reading a printed book.
I want to get out of school and strife,
And the clanging of a bell,
And walk for a day where life is life,
Where joys are true and pictures are real. —Gladys Woodward; 6B.
As a final sentence, too many good things are lost in child life, too1
many opportunities are neglected, too many fine sentiments are over-looked,
because of the teacher's indifference due to lack of ability to
accumulate the wonderful things that have been created by school chil-dren.
If such records as these were kept, I am sure there would be
more interest in school work. More interest in school work, would cer-tainly
create better attendance, and the results would be more highly
appreciated by parents, teachers, supervisors, and children.
20 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
SOME PHASES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
RADIO IN EDUCATION
(H. K. Carpenter, Manager, Radio Station W. P. T. F.,
Raleigh, North Carolina)
Radio is a new industry; and like other new industries grows so
rapidly that even those in the work find it very hard to keep abreast
of developments. As compared to what it is hoped radio will accomplish
in the future, the progress which has been made so far consists of
merely the most elementary steps. Being a new industry, radio must
prove its value as it goes along; and also it must overcome the natural
tendency of so many of us to frown upon anything that is new.
The use of radio in connection with school work, both elementary and
advanced, has recently been cropping out in spots all over the United
States. This is noticed particularly in the public schools in Oakland,
Atlanta, Cleveland and Chicago. And, as you probably know, the
Extension Divisions of most universities are beginning to accept all invi-tations
tendered them to broadcast programs of specific interest to the
alumni of the institutions. A number of colleges and universities,
especially in the Middle West, own and operate their own broadcasting
stations, and in a few isolated instances, college credit is given for the
completion of radio extension courses. Probably the most elaborate
attempt, however, has been that of the Radio Corporation of America
in broadcasting their series of morning concerts played by Walter Dam-rosch
and his Symphony Orchestra.
When it comes to the actual consideration of what can be done in
each particular instance, there are several problems to be faced. First,
what are the types, of broadcast available in your particular community?
Second, if the programs are to be more or less under the supervision of
the educational authorities, what speakers, musicians, and teachers can
be secured to appear in the studios? Third, the cost of sending out any
given radio program is rather larger than most people suspect; some
firm or organization must be found which can be induced to furnish the
necessary broadcasting facilities. Fourth, the proper means of publish-ing
the plans must be found; these must include not only newspaper
publicity, but a means of taking the necessary information directly into
the schools. Fifth, a proper receiving apparatus must be secured and
installed in the schools. And, sixth, a very definite plan of classroom
procedure must be developed and maintained.
The above problems may seem to be insurmountable, but the fact
of the matter is that they have been solved in some communities, and
are being solved in increasing numbers each year.
Radio in education should be used not only from the viewpoint of the
development of music appreciation, but also for what it can do in con-nection
with the study of such subjects as geography, history and Eng-lish.
Consider the value to children studying geography of being able
to tune in broadcasts in connection with the Byrd Expedition at the
South Pole; the opening of the new International Bridge at Niagara
Falls; and relay broadcasts from European stations. Think of the
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 21
opportunity for the study of history in the making—tuning in such events
as the following which have been broadcast during the past year: The
Pan-American Conference, from Havana, Cuba; the Memorial Service,
from Gettysburg; the annual conference of the American Farm Bureau
in Chicago; Washington's Birthday Celebration in Washington; the
Republican Convention in Kansas City; the Democratic Convention in
Houston; the Inauguration of President Hoover; and many others.
Let us consider for a moment, some things a little nearer home. Since
last September W P T F has been broadcasting educational material
whenever available. This has included a series of Music Appreciation
programs under the auspices of the Music Section of the Raleigh
Woman's Club; the United States Farm Forum; the Farm Flashes; the
World Book Man; Garden Club Talks; and talks from various State
Departments such as Agriculture, Motor Vehicle Bureau, Conservation
and Development, etc.
Besides these features having a very evident educational aim, here
are a few broadcasts sent out from Raleigh during the past year, having
considerable educational content: News flashes, weather forecasts, the
Poet's Corner, Church Services, Tone Pictures, Song Story, the World
Today by Dr. Julius Klein, National Safety Council Series, Roads of the
Sky, and many others.
Of course these broadcasts have a general appeal rather than content
applicable to Elementary School work alone. I mention W P T F and the
programs we have broadcast merely because they indicate the attitude
and work of the great majority of responsible radio stations.
Radio broadcasting and the placement of receiving sets must go hand-in-
hand; a broadcasting station without at least some potential listeners
is about as useless as anything we can imagine. Stations deliberately
broadcast programs which are planned to be pleasing or acceptable to
those who have receiving sets. Why should stations, therefore, send
out lessons in music appreciation for elementary grades when there are
no facilities for receiving these programs. Such broadcasts should not
be put on the air at night when probably a majority of listeners are
adults; and why broadcast them in the daytime when boys and girls
are in school?
On the other hand, why go to the expense of installing apparatus in
schools when little suitable for reproduction in the school is available
on the air?
The answer to these questions is quite obvious: the educational
authorities and the broadcast stations should join hands for their mutual
good. And I know I speak for the broadcasters when I say that they
are more than willing to cooperate in any manner possible.
Of course it has been impossible in this short space of time to do
anything but barely scratch the surface of this subject. May I urge you
to seriously consider the use of radio in your plans for the coming year.
To make the matter very concrete, let me suggest that you do one or
both of two things: First, communicate with your nearest radio station
and enlist the cooperation which undoubtedly is awaiting you, at any
time; and second, write to Miss Alice Keith, Division of Education,
Radio Corporation of America, 233 Broadway, New York City.
22 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
To start, don't bite off more than you can chew—don't try to do it
all at once; for radio is no different than any other business or enter-:
prise; but do something this fall to employ the services radio can bring
you in elementary education. The material is there for the asking, the
boys and girls deserve it, and you personally will have the pleasure of
being in step with the times and affording yourself the opportunity of
some day being able to say, "I can remember when we had no radios
in our schools!"
HOW TO HELP THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILD IN
DEVELOPING ART APPRECIATION
(Lydia A. Bancroft, Professor of Public School Music,
Cullowhee State Normal School, Cullowhee, N. C.)
Little time need be spent in justifying the teaching of art, for we
all realize that by it life is enriched and better and happier citizens
are developed.
The first and greatest essential in developing in the child a sense of
art appreciation is in the training of the teachers so that they will
themselves understand and enjoy beautiful things and be able to interpret
that appreciation in others. In many classrooms little is accomplished
because the teachers have been so instructed in art that it has not meant
to them a tangible art which they are able to interpret to the children.
The second necessity is that we provide school buildings and school
grounds that are in themselves examples of the art which teachers wish
the children to appreciate. This unconcious appeal is very important.
The environment in which we place the child should be the most beautiful
one that it is possible to procure. This point needs emphasis for too
often we are teaching one thing and living another. By such a contra-dictory
life little can be accomplished. In this connection it is well to
realize that to make our schools attractive does not always mean that
they be so very much more expensive. Tinted walls, cabinets, built-in
book shelves, a picture moulding, are all aids in the keeping of a neat,
clean, attractive room yet these are not so very expensive. They are but
the proper setting which will make possible an artistic environment for
the children.
In the discussion of definite classroom problems there is much to be
said. When actual need exists art problems arise in every subject
taught in the elementary grades. Correlation makes possible the fitting
of art into its proper place in the curriculum. Poster, book covers,
Christmas cards, decorations on pottery, the painting of landscapes will
serve to bring to mind the many problems which are typical. The child
learns what it is that makes them fine. He develops a critical sense
in art based on a definite understanding of such principles as balance,
rhythm, and harmony as they appear in line, dark and light, and color.
In such problems good - taste is developed to its greatest extent when
there is constant chance for children making choices between good and
poor arrangements. A wealth of illustrative material does more than
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 23
anything else to help one see what is good design and good color. The
teacher may talk all day but to show the child means much more.
It matters little whether it is a book cover for a first grade Mother
Goose book or a sixth grade geography book. Children should discuss
the size and the shape which will be most convenient and look the best
for the cover. Then what lettering shall be used, how large it shall be,
and where it shall be placed must be considered. The children should
also decide whether any other decoration is needed and if so how large
it shall be and where it shall be placed. Finally, color choices must be
made. To give a specific example, green paper should not be passed to
the class for one problem and brown for another but regardless of the
extra work and the temporary disorder occasioned, each child should be
allowed to come to a table upon which various colored papers have been
placed. There he may make his selection of that which suits his purpose
and pleases his eye. This does not mean that unlimited freedom shall
be permitted. Problems should be chosen and the conditions of their
development arranged to suit the age of the children. The thing I wish
to emphasize is that art appreciation is developed only when the students
are given many occasions in which to make choices between good and
poor designs and between good and poor color combinations.
Again let art problems come very close to the children's everyday
experiences. Let them discuss and offer suggestions for the arrange-ment
of the class room. It may include the handling of pictures, the
arrangement of clippings on a bulletin board, the placing of chairs, table
and books for a library corner in the room. Flowers may be arranged.
Art need not be intangible. Children can understand the same art prin-ciples
which have been used by the Japanese for centuries in their
schools of flower arrangement. Children may profitably take part in
any experience which will give them occasions for developing good taste
in dress, in house furnishing and in advertising. Let the children plan
the beautifying of the school grounds and there will be no need of posting
signs requesting that papers be kept from the school lawn. When they
have had some part in the beautifying of their surroundings "clean-up"
campaigns will not be necessary. Art is an every-day thing after all.
It is not for the few but it means good taste for all. A well-spaced letter,
a nicely arranged spelling paper or a well-drawn map are just as worthy
of attention as a poster made in the art class.
One's sense of appreciation develops through doing. There may be
beauty of proportion and of construction in a well-made piece of
furniture or a rug woven in the school room. Frequent exhibits of the
best work are important and finally a yearly exhibit. Let me make a
plea for more care in the arrangement of such exhibits. One becomes
conscious of the lack of definite art training on the part of many
teachers when one studies the good work of the children which so many
times at county and group-center commencements is displayed unmounted
and badly arranged in too crowded an area. This lack of training is
not the fault of the teachers so much as it is the fault of those in
authority in teacher training institutions who have not themselves
sufficient realization of the value of such training to provide adequately
for it in their courses of study.
24 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
Children of the large cities are becoming familiar with the art of
many distant peoples through the art museums. Classes of children visit
the gallaries and study the exhibits under the leadership of trained
museum guides. We can hardly do this in North Carolina. Let us not,
however, overlook the art that is about us. Children should be led to
see the best that is in their environment. School children who make a
loom and weave on it a rug or a scarf will go home with a greater appre-ciation
for the hand-woven coverlets of their grandmothers than they
had before such an experience. Exhibits may be planned which will
bring together the best art found in the homes of the community. Much
may be done to rid the homes of that which is poor in design and bad
in color and to develop a sense of appreciation in the best that can be
found in the homes. When these things are accomplished we shall be
well on the road toward the Second Renaissance which some writers
claim is about to enter America.
HOW AN ANALYSIS OF HEALTH EDUCATION IN A NORTH CARO-LINA
COUNTY MAY FURTHER THE DEVELOPMENT
OF CHILDREN OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AGE
WITHIN THAT COUNTY
(Nettie Brogdon, Rural School Supervisor, Guilford County,
Greensboro, North Carolina)
The results from an investigation of the causes for failure in the
elementary grades in the Guilford County schools gave conclusive evidence
that the health of the child was a big contributive element in his educa-tional
progress. In order, therefore, to attain "maximum standard pro-motion
of the grade enrollment" which is a goal the schools are striving
for, it seemed evident that some remedial work must be done in health.
Two health aims, therefore, were agreed upon: (1) Every child physically
fit; (2) Positive health teaching. The discussion which follows outlines
the objectives and the initial procedure for health education in Guilford
County.
One of the basis objectives or outcomes of elementary education
should be the growth and improvement of the child's mental, emotional,
social, and physical health behavior in terms of attitudes, habits, skills,
and knowledge. That the elementary schools in Guilford County may
achieve these ends in increasing proportions, the following procedure
was outlined:
1. To utilize all the forces, factors, and natural situations within the
school, the home, and the community for the development and promotion
of mental, social, emotional, and physical health practices, attitudes,
and knowledge of children.
2. To provide opportunities for the practice of mental, emotional,
social, and physical health habits frequently, accurately, and efficiently
in natural situations.
3. To aid children individually to make their own judgments and
to form their own standards for healthful living, social relationships,
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 25
and emotional control through well-directed activities for individual
expression.
4. To study the health needs of individual children, and to guide their
activities as far as possible to meet these needs.
5. To arouse the interest of the children, the parents, and the com-munity
in the improvement of the health conditions and surroundings
of the school, the home, and the community.
6. To develop in the children and the parents an increasing appre-ciation
and cooperation toward the scientific professional services of the
examining physician, the dentist, the nurse, and the welfare worker.
As an initial step in helping teachers to realize these big health
objectives, they were guided in making an objective analysis of the
forces, factors, and natural situations within the school and the com-munity
which influenced the health of the child. Analysis sheets were
prepared for them, which consisted of positive statements or practice
based on practicability in relation to the public school; statements or
practices which in the light of present-day knowledge are educationally
sound and scientifically accurate, and based on the fundamental needs
of childhood. Teachers analyzed their own practices by these positive
statements.
Every phase of the physical equipment was studied such as: Light,
ventilation, heat, water, toilets, etc. The natural situations which arise
throughout the child's day in the school and through which health habits
may be practiced, health knowledge impressed, desirable attitudes built,
and social health adjustments made, were analyzed. These natural situa-tions
were:
1. Transportation to and from school.
2. Activities before and after school.
3. Entering school for day's program.
4. Beginning the school day—the Home Room period.
5. The daily schedule.
6. Morning playground period.
7. Getting ready for lunch.
8. The lunch period.
9. Afternoon recess.
10. Drinking water during the day.
11. Attending toilet during the day.
12. Washing hands during the day.
13. Rest periods for Primary children.
14. Auditorium activities.
15. Class room clean and artistic.
16. Control of communicable diseases.
17. Dismissal of school.
18. After-school activities at the school.
19. Preparation of school work at home.
26 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
The activities within each of the above situations were analyzed. For
example, the situation: "Entering School for the Day's Work," consisted
of the following activities:
1. Entering building from the playgrounds.
2. Assembling in class rooms.
3. Attitude of teachers.
4. Placing of coats, sweaters, hats, etc., in spaces provided for them.
5. Removal of coats, sweaters, overshoes, and hats.
6. Adjusting room ventilation and heat.
7. Observing that no child has wet feet or wet clothing on rainy and
cold days.
A composite score showing the number of teachers observing the
various positive statements was made for each school and the county as
a whole. With the information from this composite score each school
and class room was able to find its own needs and be in a better position
to utilize all the factors and forces in the school and community in
developing a healthful school day. Teachers were helped in the inter-pretation
of their school analysis and given remedial and constructive
assistance through the various supervising agencies in the county. After
six months of remedial work a study was made in order to determine
the results. The data gathered from this study gave: (a) The number
of teachers observing particular healthful school practices one hundred
per cent; (b) of the three hundred forty-four (344) practices included
in the study, reports from the one hundred ninety-eight (198) teachers
showed that the range of practices which had been improved by them
was from one to one hundred twenty-six. At the end of the seventh
month, a second study was made in order to determine the teacher's
needs in teaching materials. These data have been assembled and will
be used in the promotion of this work.
During the past year we have taken only the initial step in realizing
the broad health objectives in education. The analysis which was made
pointed out both the healthful and the unhealthful school practices,
thereby causing many unhealthful practices to be changed. The parents,
represented by the Parent-Teacher Associations are actively interested in
finding their responsibility in assisting the school in the development and
in the promotion of the mental, social, emotional, and physical health
of their children. They have already engaged in many activities which
have shown appreciable results. At present "An Analysis of Health
Practices in the Home," similar to the one used in the schools, is being
prepared for their use.
The outcomes from the correction of remedial physical defects and
the broad health program has contributed much towards attaining the
county-wide objective, "Maximum Standard Promotion of the Grade
Enrollment."
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 27
THE EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD
OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AGE
(Frazer Hood, Professor of Psychology, Davidson College,
Davidson, North Carolina)
In recent years we have awakened to the fact that intellectual train-ing,
rational and moral, fails at a very critical juncture, so that we
behold the brilliant scholars of our primary and secondary schools, while
intellectually disciplined, to go to pieces in certain critical situations and
become in extreme instances charges on the State. It has become pretty
widely accepted today that this breakdown, this failure in life crises, is
due not to any faulty intellectual processes, but to abnormal and para-logical
emotional reactions. The field of research here has scarcely been
entered, and there lies before us much work to do before one can feel
very confident in his tentatively accepted theories. But enough work has
been done to make one feel hopeful of the future.
I want to indicate briefly in this paper something of the nature of
work doing in this field. And as an approach to my subject—"The Emo-tional
Development of the Child of Elementary School Age"—it may be
well to observe that the training of the emotions, so directing their
development, that the child may live his life helpfully both to himself
and to the other members of his social milieu, we must appreciate the
fact, that in contrast to intellectual and motor training, we can work
only indirectly in achieving our ends. The emotions are controlled, or
conditioned by the autonomic and not the central nervous system. The
autonomic nervous system in its functioning differs from that of the
central nervous system in that the central nervous system ?'s under the
control of conscious purposes whereas the autonomic reflex is not under
the control or direction of conscious purposes. Concretely, I cannot will
not to become angry, for instance, if an anger stimulus is presented, but
I can be so trained, either that a substitute rather than the primitive
anger stimulus is necessary to call out the responses, or the natural
response may be made to give way to a conditional response.
Here then, is your objective in directing the emotional development
of the child—either to train him away from responding to the uncon-ditioned
stimulus or to respond to the unconditioned stimulus with a
substitute response. Our aim in educating the emotions then, is not at
all an attempt to root out any of the emotions. It is not at all the
question of how may we banish all fear or all anger responses of the
child. The stimulus to anger, for instance, and the result of such stimu-lation
is a preparation of the organism, through the sympathetic seg-ment
of the autonomic system, for a fighting reaction. This mechanism
of anger is a very strong and vital part of every human being, and he
is an abnormal person who cannot be aroused to anger by an adequate
stimulus. Even if anger, or fear, could be ratine, there would be no
benefit occurring either to the individual or to society in the success of
such an uprootage. But anger like fear and love, is so strong, so vital,
so primitive a part of the psychic furniture of the race, that its excision
could only result disastrously.
28 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
What we hope to do in training the emotional reactions of the child,
and the experimental approach to our problem justifies expectations, is
so to train the child that the reactions to emotional stimuli may be bene-ficial
to the child as an individual and as a member of society.
Through the genetic study of the emotions by Watson, and others,
psychologists are fairly well agreed that there are at least three primitive
emotions. Some say more and a few are inclined to deny on technical
grounds any one definite pattern of emotional responses, but I believe
agreement can be had among the large majority, that from the birth
the child manifests emotional experiences in response to three classes of
stimuli and for the nonce the emotional experiences are classifiable under
three headings: (1) Fear, (2) anger, and (3) love. I also believe there
is pretty wide agreement that the primitive stimuli are: Of fear, loud
sounds and loss of support; of anger, restraint of bodily movements ; and
of love, stroking the skin, rocking, riding on boat, etc.
With these assumptions psychologists have proceeded to test certain
methods which claim to be successful in training the child away from
responding to certain substitute stimuli. The brevity of this paper pre-vents
my doing more than very briefly sketching the conclusions from
laboratory studies of just one emotion. For explanatory purpose I shall
select fear. The problem is to ascertain the most successful and prac-tically
applicable methods of unconditioning fear.
1. One method of "curing" a child from being afraid of harmless
objects is to eliminate the object from the experiences of the child and
by the "law of disuse" finally achieve the result. This may be called the
method of elimination; and it proceeds on the assumption that if we keep
a child protected from such stimuli as arouse fear, for a sufficiently long
time, the stimuli will fail to provoke the responses. Because certain
responses are known to obey the law of disuse, by a false analogy it was
assumed that emotional responses obeyed the same law. The results
reported from the laboratory are that very frequently fear response to
the stimulus returns even after an extended interval. Of course the
impracticability of guarding the child from exposure to undesirable
stimuli makes the method, even if successful, valueless to the teacher.
2. Then, there is the method that consists of talking over with the
child the thing that causes fear, stressing its interesting and attractive
features. We may call this method, the method of verbal appeal. This
has been found to be occasionally successful.
3. We have what may be called the method of negative adaption.
Here the procedure is to let the thing causing fright be presented while
the child is occupied, calling no attention to it, merely allowing it to lie
in sight. This has been found to be occasionally successful.
4. The next method is called the method of repression. Using this
method one proceeds to make fun of the fear state, the boy is afraid
to go to sleep alone in a dark room. We make fun of the boy's fear
and hope by laughing at him to so shame him out of his unreasonable fear
that he will cease being afraid. Of all the methods this is the one most
to be condemned. If you wish to see a probable result of this method
read Augustus Thomas' "The Bewitching Hour." From laboratory reports
we are told that this method often produces sullenness; and sometimes
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 29
it takes psycho-analysis to bring to light what has dropped into uncon-sciousness.
5. The method of distraction directs that with the cause of fear
present, we call attention to attractive features, we characterize it, etc.
You will perceive that this is superficially very similar to method number
3. However, here the stimulus is in the focus, not the margin of atten-tion.
This method has at times proved successful.
6. The method of direct conditioning. If carefully and patiently
employed this method is perhaps the most successful of all. Certainly
experiments made with it show results superior to all others. The pro-cedure
is to use something which the child likes when the fear object is
present, such as food for young children, hoping to transfer the pleasant
association from it to the fear object. But great caution is necessary to
prevent the undesirable quality of the fear object by association to travel
to the desired object. In other words it is possible, highly probable in
unskillful hands, that the child may still remain afraid of the object
and now comes to detest a food which he formerly enjoyed.
7. The method of social initiation closes our catalog. Here we pro-ceed
as follows: Have the child play with the fear provoking stimulus,
if it can be played with, in the presence of children of similar age who
are not afraid of it. The child may withdraw at first, but the example
of the group will usually interest him in the object and he forgets his
fears. All experiments with adults have failed to accomplish the end.
With children, and especially young children it is often successful.
In this fragmentary and laconic presentation I hope I have at least
dropped a hint as to how to proceed in dealing with children's fears,
and negatively, some things to eschew.
HOW TO AID THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILD
IN DEVELOPING CHARACTER
(K. C. Garrison, Associate Professor of Psychology,
N. C. State College, Raleigh, N. C.)
In very recent years the increase in crime in our country—and par-ticularly
the steady reduction in the average age of criminals who find
themselves finally ending in our jails, penitentiaries, and the like—has
become alarming. Although the schools have been playing an important
role, both directly and indirectly, in character development, their work
may be made even more effective if the aims of education and the nature
of the child are more carefully understood by those in charge.
In the first place it is erroneous to conceive of education as an all-powerful
force that can place its hands upon a child in whom habits have
been thoroughly established, and in a short while effect a total change
in his habits. The child's inborn potentialities, past experiences, imme-diate
surroundings, and present stage of development must be considered
with respect to any character trait that is being developed. If strong
drinks are served in the home, then any attempt, by the schools, to teach
30 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
pupils to uphold the enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment promises
to be a failure. Again, if the father persists in breaking the speed
limit while his son Jim watches for the cop, the idea that the policeman
is some spy to be outwitted if possible, is thoroughly instilled in the
child.
Two methods of character education are available, namely: (1) The
indirect or incidental method, and (2) the direct or formal method. The
first method says that character development is related to the various
activities of the child, the motto being "hit while the iron is hot." The
second method calls for a definite program organized on the basis of
certain "traits" or "modes of behavior." The indirect methods finds
expression largely in extra-curricula activities and is especially concerned
with the development of the proper social relations. It is with this
method that I shall concern myself during the remainder of this
discussion.
In the transition from the home to the school many new adjustments
of a social nature are present. The child is placed in a broader social
situation. The habits formed prior to this period are still functioning,
but are destined to be fitted into and modified by the new social environ-ment.
In this social environment the child comes into contact with many
different children and these children come to be a vital factor in deter-mining
his behavior activities. From this group, in later years, play-mates
are chosen. These playmates are chosen largely on the basis of
similarity in physiological and chronological age—from the same locality,
and from the same school room. Especially is this found to be true for
boys. In the case of girls the social factor is more prominent in the
choice of friends. The interests and activities of these children are
going to depend largely upon the guidance of the teachers and parents.
Social workers have £,hown that playmates are the greatest force, aside
from the home, in the making of desirable or undesirable behavior.
Perhaps the greatest single force for the development of character in
children is that of confidence in those who are guiding their activities.
Confidence in the teacher or parent will be a great force in the choice
of desirable play activities. Confidence can only be secured through
sympathetic understanding and fair play. The teacher must know the
child's interests and understand his or her difficulties. The child is con-stantly
meeting new situations, coming into contact with strange situa-tions,
or becoming confused at seme new relations or thought presented.
Curiosity is the natural outcome. And who has not heard the child's
question, due to curiosity, answered in some such manner as this: "You
musn't ask such foolish questions?" Was the question foolish to the
child? Has this answer cleared up the curiosity? Will the child return
to get such an answer when curiosity again is present? It is because
of such behavior on the part of teachers that children get perverted ideas
and often develop very . undesirable habits. Especially is this true in
problems relating to birth and to the sex phases of life.
Again the teacher may actually go so far as to be unfair to the child
in order to carry her point. Have you heard of the teacher who in
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 31
answer to the child's question, can never say, "I don't know?" Have
you not been told of the teacher who refused to allow the child to sharpen
his pencil because of some petty or minor trouble wholly unrelated to
the sharpening of the pencil? Have you ever heard of the teacher who
kept a child at school after the school closed because the child broke
a window light—and probably accidentally at that? We all recognize
that there should be a reconditioning process in connection with the
child's behavior activities, but unless the child sees the reason for the
reconditioning and understands the error in his conduct then the child
will come to look upon the teacher as a person "who will get me if I
don't look out."
The resulting behavior activities will be characterized by "avoidance."
Or in place of a natural spontaneous imitation of the qualities of the
teacher, the behavior of the child will be a mere mockery. When the
teacher has established an attitude of confidence on the part of the pupils
towards her, then her attitude, her ideals and her behavior patterns will
be found present in the behavior of her pupils in her charge.
HOW TO AID THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILD IN DEVELOPING
PROPER SOCIAL ATTITUDES
(Gladys Hoagland Groves, Chapel Hill, N. C.)
Not the "bad child" who makes schoolroom discipline difficult and
intrigues the teacher's interest by presenting her with an obvious prob-lem
to solve, but the "model pupil" who always has his lessons, attends
to class work, and never teases his roommates—this is often the child
who most needs help in making satisfactory social adjustments. The
"bad child" is at least making social contacts, and however bad they may
be he is in a fair way to learn to improve his technique by the simple
process of trial and error; while the "model pupil" may be shirking
every possible contact with his fellows, and making up for his feeling
of inferiority on the playground by grinding away at his work in the
schoolroom. .
The child that is driven to apply himself to his work because he
supposes himself unpopular with his mates will perhaps achieve remark-able
results in his life work, but at the cost of a lasting discontent that
impairs his judgment and prevents his fully enjoying any success that
comes to him. Childhood attitudes form so important a part of one's
adult makeup that nobody can ever get entirely away from the basic
happiness or unhappiness of his early days.
When a teacher sees a child keeping by himself while the others play
or work or squabble together, it is time to take account of that child's
stock. Is he shy because of shabby or over-elegant clothes? Is he phys-ically
handicapped, or burdened by the social stigma of an unsavory
family reputation?
32 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
If one can gain such a child's confidence one may find that he is
harboring resentment against the world because of some handicap that
exists only in his imagination. He may once have been weaker than his
playmates, and not realize that he has outgrown his weakness, or he
may magnify the poverty that means nothing to his playmates. If the
handicap that bothers a child is imaginary or greatly enlarged by his
dwelling on it, he may be relieved to find on talking it over with a
friendly teacher that all he needs to do is to forget it.
When there is a real handicap, the child will need to be assisted or
encouraged to make the most of whatever social talents he has—whether
it be whistling or taking part in games of skill (since he may be unable
to shine in contests of strength) or just the art of being consistently
good-natured.
Once a stand-offish child has been persuaded that he is not funda-mentally
disliked by his schoolmates, but only disliked for his air of
superiority or his readiness to see a grievance where none was meant,
he is in a position to learn step by step to make satisfactory social
adjustments.
1
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 3;
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION FOR FURTHERING
CHILD DEVELOPMENT
ACTIVITY PROGRAM IN MECKLENBURG COUNTY SCHOOLS
(Eloise Rankin, Rural School Supervisor, Charlotte, N. C.)
Foreword: One of our objectives during the past year was to "intro-duce
and develop an activity program based on the needs and interests
of the pupils." I have used the words "introduce" and "develop" because
there were some teachers of the formal type who did not know how to
begin and lacked confidence in themselves and then there was a large
number of teachers who had experience in activity work but needed help.
At all times both teachers and pupils have been encouraged to try their
own ideas, if possible correct their own mistakes, and bring to a successful
conclusion whatever work they have undertaken.
I. Method of Procedure: Two county-wide Primary and two county-wide
Grammar Grade Teachers' Meetings were given over to the dis-cussion
of an activity program which would include among other things,
reports from individual teachers whose classes had done outstanding
work.
Mimeographed copies of the following criteria by Dr. Lois Mossman
for evaluating activities were supplied each teacher:
Some Suggested Criteria for Evaluating Activities*
1. Is it related to the present living experience of the children?
2. Does it give promise of outcomes relatively valuable in life today?
3. Will this work contribute to some of the larger essential goals
of education?
4. Will it give fuller meaning to the experience of child in this
particular environment?
5. Is it hard enough to challenge?
6. Is it easy enough to insure some degree of success?
7. Will it lead on to something more worthy?
8. Does it come out of the children's previous experience?
9. Will it foster an inquiring investigative attitude?
10. Will it teach the children method in ordering their experiences?
II. Will it develop relationships leading to organization of experience?
12. Is the experience involved socially constant or socially variable?
13. Are the fields of subject matter involved worthwhile, repre-sentative
of the big aspects of life?
14. Is it related to other activities of the children?
15. How often and how recently have similar activities been ex-perienced?
16. Will it contribute to the child's efficiency?
17. Is it in line with the theory of increasing difficulty?
18. Is it practicable under school conditions?
19. Are materials and helps needed available?
*From "Criteria for Evaluating Activities."—Dr. Lois Mossman.
34 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
20. How fully can the activity be carried out?
21. How much time will it consume?
22. What difficulties may arise in carrying it out?
Each teacher whose class had worked out an activity was asked to
return on blanks sent out from the office the following information:
(1) Name of activity, (2) aim, (3) results, and (4) sources of help.
These were mimeographed and returned to the teachers by grades.
This, together with demonstration lessons centering around some activity,
stimulated increased interest in the work. In the teachers' meetings
conducted in the individual schools the following books were found to
be most helpful: Annie Moore's Primary School, Rose Knox's School
Activities and Equipment, and the Lincoln School Curriculum. (The
activity program seems to have stimulated library reading on the part
of the teachers. The average .number of professional books read by each
teacher during the term was five.)
2. Types of Activity: A partial list of the various types of activities
—
many of which overlap—follows:
a. Scientific and Social—History, Geography, Science, Industry, and
Number.
Under this came: Transportation; Indians; Eskimaux; Thanksgiving;
Excursions; Pottery; Maps; Study of paper; Play City—Charlotte;
Animals—gold fish, tadpoles; Birds; Gardening; Party; Jobs; Museum;
Collecting specimens of rocks, trees, leaves.
b. Constructive Activites—including all kinds of hand work, Fine
Arts, Industrial Arts, Jobs, Plays:
Making houses, stores, etc.; Furniture; Rugs, curtains, pottery; Draw-ing—
use of larger muscles, rather than finger muscles; Painting; Writ-ing;
Soap carving book-ends, shelves, cases, and calendar plaques.
c. English Activities—Language, Literature, and Reading:
Bulletin Board—Daily News; Record of own experiences; Play;
Puppet Show; Story-telling ; Reading to find answer to own questions;
Committee reports and floor talks; and Reading Circle.
d. Artistic and Recreational Activities—Art, Music, and Play:
Excursions; Trips to library; Picture studies and pictures from
library; Music appreciaton; Rhythm orchestras; Dramatization; Group
games; Pantomimes; Pageants.
(These differ from other activities only in aim. The aim here is
always to create beauty and self-expression, and to develop appreciation
of the beautiful in everyday life and surroundings.)
3. Supplementary Work: Through the splendid cooperation of both
teachers and principals the following supplementary work has been
accomplished on a county-wide basis:
Thrift—44% of pupils in average daily attendance were depositors
at the bank at close of school and members of Thrift Clubs.
Music Appreciation—1,080 pupils enrolled in State Music Appreciation
Contest.
Pupil's Reading Circle—63% of total enrollment received certificates
for having read six or more books. Average number of books read by
each pupil enrolled—10.
Home Nursing and Care of Sick—course conducted by Red Cross
graduate nurse in six schools.
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 35
Supervised lunch periods. (Hot lunches in six schools.)
Pre-school clinics-^-65% of estimated enrollment in attendance.
Social Hygiene course for all 'teen age boys and girls.
Health Clubs—stressing right health habits, diet, weighing, and
measuring.
Citizenship Clubs with enrollment of 3,852 pupils.
4. Results of the Year's Work: One per cent less pupils are over age
for grade than last year. The average age has been reduced. The
improvement in attendance was 3%, and the number of pupils promoted
increased 6%.
Just how much of this has been due to our activity program it is
difficult to say, but we do know that it has afforded opportunity for
development of self-reliance, cooperation, consideration of others, fair
play, leadership, good sportsmanship, honesty, and other habits of citizen-ship
which are so sorely needed.
FREE ACTIVITY WORK IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES
(Annie Wilcox, Teacher, Carteret County Public Schools,
Newport, North Carolina)
The subject assigned me is Activity Work in the Elementary Grades.
I shall not attempt, however, to cover such a broad topic, but will tell
you something of the activity program carried on in the first grades
of our school last year.
Free activity work is that type of work which provides the child
with varied, interesting and worthwhile activities, in the participation of
which he grows in subject-matter and develops certain desirable qualities
that make for better citizenship. We know that experience is the most
direct route to knowledge. Some one has said, "I would not have a child
say 'I know' but 'I have experienced.' " After a child has taken part
in an activity program he is able to say, "I know because I have ex-perienced,"
for this program furnishes necessary experience.
I have heard that in order to have a successful activity program,
three things are necessary; movable furniture, movable pupils, and
movable teachers. I am sure that the movable teacher is the most
important of the three, because if she is movable she can very easily
make the furniture and pupils movable. It is absolutely essential that
the teacher stay in the background and let the children do the planning.
Of course she has to be on the alert to direct wisely, set standards and
handle any situation that may arise.
In an activity program one may have as many centers of work as
equipment, furniture and space will permit. Of course the larger the
space the easier it is to carry on the work, however, an average size
school room may easily be converted into a workshop if the furniture
is light and movable. Even the old stationary desks can very easily be
made movable by nailing two or three desks to two narrow strips. In
our room we had three large tables that would seat eight or ten children,
a dozen individual desks, a large work table which was used for the
clay center and the library furniture. We had ten centers, as follows:
36 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
1. The reading center, which we called our library. This was the
most attractive spot in the room! We had low book cases with slanting
shelves, a reading table, a bench and two chairs in there, all of which
were painted in an attractive color scheme. We had about sixty first
grade books in the library.
2. The tool center in which the children did construction work with
hammer, saw, and nails.
3. The clay center where the children used clay for modeling various
things.
4. The painting center in which the children worked at an easel
with brushes and cold water paints. They painted original pictures,
illustrated stories, and reproduced pictures.
5. The drawing center where the children drew on paper with colored
crayons and at the board with colored chalk.
6. The printing center in which the children used a printing press
and newsprint for printing words, stories, and numbers.
7. The science center which was made up of natural things brought
in and learned about by the children.
8. The weaving center in which the children strung up frames and
wove rugs, mats, etc., of rags.
9. The play center in which the children played in the doll house or
with any games or playthings they happened to bring to school.
10. The sewing center where the children sewed for their dolls and
made anything else needed in the room.
As soon as the children entered the room in the morning, they had
a short conference, each one stating what he intended doing during the
work period. I very often had to offer suggestions because frequently
a child would want to go to something else before he had finished a
piece of work already begun. From the beginning I tried to make them
see that making things that were of no use was a waste of time. During
the work period each child went about his particular task asking for
help when needed and offering suggestions to others whenever he could.
I moved around among them making notes from which I made my perma-nent
activity records.
These are some of the things made during the year: A doll house;
the home of The Three Bears; a paint box; two chairs; a bench; pencil
holders; wall vases; flower bowls and book-ends for the library; clothes
for the doll family; pitcher and cracker bowls; and work aprons and
white aprons, and caps for those who sewed during the mid-morning
lunch.
After the children worked about thirty minutes, I either played the
victrola or rang a bell and the children immediately stopped work, put
away materials, swept the floor, scrubbed the clay table and put the
room in order . After they washed their hands they returned to their
groups and discussed what they had done, made a story about it and
decided which one should tell the story. When I asked for a report from
a group, the one chosen displayed the work done by that group and
told the story they had made. The children then discussed the work,
saying whether they did or did not like it and why, giving suggestions
for improvement. Quite often I have seen a child exhibit a piece of work
which he considered finished, but after the conference period he would
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 37
say, "I'm going to work on this again tomorrow and fix it right." It
was during this conference period that I accomplished most in setting
standards.
After the stories and discussions, the children decided which story
was best and I wrote that story on the board and had as many children
read it as wanted to. Then we had a short phrase and word drill. In
the afternoon I printed that story and added it to our activity reading
chart. The next day they read the story in printed form and had
another phrase and word drill. Quite often we went back and reviewed
some of the old stories.
I consider that the mid-morning lunch was one of the most important
features of our program. We were unable to serve this lunch every day
because we did not have the necessary materials. However, on the days
we did have it—for instance if we served cocoa—some children carried
milk, some cocoa and others sugar. The Home Economics girls prepared
it for us and four children served. They used a sheet from a magazine
for a mat, and a quarter of a paper towel for a napkin for each child.
We had a nice socialized lunch period, after which those who served
cleared the tables, washed dishes and put everything in order. These
are some of the advantages of this lunch period: It improves the child's
table manners generally, teaches him the proper things to talk about
while eating, brings in good health habits, and trains for table service.
I was at Newport some time after school closed last spring, and one day
the janitor's little girl was at my home at lunch time. She had lunch
with us and it was surprising to see how well she handled her silver
and her napkin, and what nice manners she had throughout the meal.
I know this was a result of mid-morning lunches because she has had
absolutely no home training along that line.
It is impossible to evaluate fully the benefits of this work at this
time. It seems quite obvious to me, however, that the children have
achieved the following advantages: (1) Greater happiness, (2) the
development of judgment, self-confidence, and independent thinking, (3) a
cooperative attitude, (4) a desire to do more and better work, and (5) an
improvement in vocabulary and sentence sense.
I must say also that more than anything I ever tried, it helps retarded
children to meet with some success. At first they showed very little
interest in the work, but after a while they became interested in doing
things and wanted to tell about what they had done. Then they were
more interested in reading their own stories than any story in a book.
The little fellow who used his table for a foot stool made a story about
it and quite frequently he would ask that we turn to his story and let
him read it. One of my boys had been in the first grade two years
already, and I had had him one of those years. Before we started our
activity work last year, I was terribly discouraged about him because he
was doing nothing. After we started the new program, however, he
became intensely interested in reading the activity stories. He learned
the words and phrases so well that we were able to promote him at the
end of the year.
If first grade children are happy and interested in this type of work,
why shouldn't it be just as effective in the other grades? We have a
very deplorable condition in our school, which probably also exists in
38 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
other schools. Last year we enrolled about eighty-five in our first grades
and about thirty in the seventh grade. Why so many drop out is some-thing
to think about. After the experience that I had last year, I am
thoroughly convinced that we would have fewer retarded children and
would not lose so many children on the day they became fourteen if we
had a child-centered program throughout the elementary school.
AN ACTIVITY PROGRAM FOR PRIMARY DEPARTMENTS
(Mrs. James A. Robinson, Supervisor of Elementary Grades,
Durham, N. C.) )
Setting up a real activity program for the Primary Departments is
such a broad problem that I shall not even attempt it, but will present
briefly, some types of activities that we have found worthwhile in the
primary grades in the Durham City Schools.
Activities in the primary grades, especially in the first year, should
grow out of the experiences and environment of the pupils. It is not an
easy matter for the teacher to turn from the old ways of doing things
to the new and it seems wise to begin with quiet types of activity at
first, such as drawing, cutting, building with blocks, etc., which involve
fewer movements and adjustments. By degrees come greater freedom
in choice of both topic and material.
From the first the children should be encouraged to try out their own
ideas and if possible to correct their own mistakes. "Children are capable
of doing far more in planning, thinking, and actual work, than most
teachers either realize or permit." Work once begun should be finished.
In all plans there should be thought for both beauty and utility; for
practical detail and fundamental principles; and for healthy questioning
minds and for awakening interests. A flexible schedule is essential. The
two-group plan always leaves one division free for work. The amount
of time allowed for this work is not definitely indicated. Some teachers
allow thirty minutes on the program while others have longer periods.
Some types of reading and other activities that always prove worth-while
may be briefly summarized as follows:'
1. Making books of various kinds.
a. Booklets of experiences, family, pets, toys, circuses, etc.
1. With pictures.
2. With names under pictures.
3. With sentences.
4. With units composed by the pupils.
b. Scrap book.
c. Joke book (illustrated with drawings and cuttings)
.
d. Riddle book.
e. Clippings.
f. Original jingles and rhymes.
g. Health book, etc.
h. Class book (work left for incoming grade in September)
.
2. Reading from story books brought from home or made by pupils
from old discarded readers at the opening exercises, during a
special period for supplementary reading or in auditorium.
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 39
3. Bulletin board—News corner (cork, beaver board, or blackboard).
a. Greetings.
b. Riddles.
c. Surprise picture with a sentence or two written under it.
d. Simple announcements (birthdays, weather reports, surprises,
etc.). In grades 2 and 3 children are encouraged to write
something of interest, original riddles, jingles, etc., on the
bulletin board. Many of these boards were made by the pupils.
4. Following directions by drawing, cutting, modeling, writing, sew-ing,
or action.
5. Reading preparatory: To dramatization, to making moving pic-tures,
puppet and peep show.
6. Reading story for another group of children.
7. Library period: Posters and placards were placed above cases
and tables calling attention to the way to handle books.
8. Plans and aims are kept constantly in view, either on chart or
blackboard, as a constant reminder to children. For example:
(a) Our plans for week, (b) our plans for month, and (c) this
week let us aim
—
9. What it means to be a good citizen: Children select and practice
the qualities that make for good citizenship. They gain habits,
skills, feelings, and ideas of value to them. For example: (a) Do
my daily work to the best of my ability, (b) be courteous to
everybody, and (c) help to keep our class room neat and orderly.
10. Pupils suggest qualities to cultivate.
11. Many suggestions on board, as:
a. Am I
—
Am I disturbing my class? Am I wasting my time? Am I
doing my best? Am I improving my work? Am I helping
someone to improve?
b. Are you a good workman? Watch yourself today.
c. Is your work here? Specimens of best work executed during
the day.
12. Each room keeps a chart of school duties.
a. Host or hostess and committees named every week in some
rooms, every two weeks in others.
13. Wild flower garden.
14. Newspaper of short stories, simple poems, news items, riddles, and
jingles selected or written by pupils. Nothing has done so much
to stimulate interest in writing, spelling, language, and drawing,
as these papers in the primary grades. A sheet a week is usually
made by a group. The papers are preserved for the incoming
pupils in the fall who thoroughly enjoy them.
15. A stanza or two of some poem conveying a beautiful thought or
a helpful suggestion may always be found on the blackboard.
16. Recognition of good work and good workers by teacher (written
on board), as, Tom and Mary were our best readers today. Best
spellers (followed by names of pupils who are best spellers),
Felix, John, and Caroline were such quiet workers today.
40 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
17. Reading Club. (Pupils to be eligible for membership must read
according to standards set and must read two books from the
library, either home, school, or public library.)
18. Charts containing songs, poems, stories, and games that have
been learned, also books that have been read.
19. Dutch Village (sand tray) . Indian Village. Early Settlers.
20. Doll House.
The class booklets dedicated to the incoming grades are a joy and
delight to the authors and a great inspiration and incentive to the new
pupils who are eager to leave a record just as good or even a little better.
BIG UNIT TEACHING IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES
(Karl Adams, Professor of Education, E. C. T. C,
Greenville, North Carolina)
The practice of using the "big unit" idea for instructional purposes
in the American schools, according to one writer, was introduced about
1910, or a little prior to that time. Its first use was in connection with
teaching agriculture. Since then it has been given a tremendous amount
of publicity. Under one name or another much space in our educational
journals, books and lectures en teaching, and periodicals has been devoted
to its explanation, justification, and praise. There are those who urge
its virtues as a curative for all educational ills. Some proclaim it for
its worth in motivating effort; some praise it for its magic effect over
individual differences; some support it for its power to remove problems
of discipline; some advocate it for instruction of the weakminded; and
some make it the only correct and properly effective basis for making
our elementary curricula. If these statements express the facts, then,
one is prompted to ask: What is meant by "big unit" teaching and how
is one to acquire the ability to use it? Answers are offered here to these
questions, but they are not to be regarded as complete. Also consider-ation
is limited to the elementary grades.
What is meant by "big unit" teaching? Several terms have been
employed as the title designation of this idea. Some of them are: "Unit
of study, project, type study, enlarged object lesson, or instructional
unit." To enter into a discussion of each of these terms and its par-ticular
meaning is not considered practical for this short paper. One
can very well get at the nature and understanding of them through
the use of one. For this purpose the term "project" is used. The ques-tion,
then, becomes: What is meant by "project" teaching? (Note: The
mooted question of whether it is a method is purposely avoided here.)
Some say one thing; some say another. Those who talk and write for
its cause are not agreed as to just what it is. Hosic says, "It is the
name for what happens when an individual, or group, sets about accom-plishing
a purpose, and in carrying it out brings about changes in his
(or their) knowledge, skills, habits, or attitudes." In this statement the
central idea seems to be "learning." Charters states, "A project is a
problematic act carried to completion in its natural setting." He has
included two ideas, namely, the "problem" and the "naturalness" of its
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 41
setting. McMurry denies it the quality of "naturalness," but insists
"Projects are enterprises undertaken by boys or girls or by men and
women looking toward desired results." "Planning toward some aim" is
the chief trait here. Kilpatrick limits it to "wholeheartedly purposeful
activity." He appears to be thinking about the learner's "attitude." It
may be that all these writers have in mind something similar, but to
the untrained these statements possess the possibility of confusion.
In a course of educational tests for the grades at East Carolina
Teachers College there are fifty-eight students. These fifty-eight students
are professionally divided as follows: Thirty-five teachers, four princi-pals,
three of whom have been and are still teachers, and twenty-two
who are planning to teach, but as yet have had no experience. Of the
thirty-five experienced members of this class, nineteen have tried to make
use of the project in their teaching. Only nine of this number have had
any training for it. Of the twenty-two who have had no experience,
fourteen stated that they intend to try to make use of the project when
they take up the work of teaching. Of these fourteen twelve have, up
to this time, had no training in its use.
Each member of this class was asked to state the meaning of "project,"
or "big units" in teaching. Each one did so. Examination of these
replies revealed several interesting things. The nineteen experienced
teachers who had made use of the project, or some other form of the
large unit, employed fifteen different ideas in their answers. Of these
fifteen ideas, nine of them occurred only once each. "Creating interest"
occurred most often. It appeared in seven papers. "Correlation of school
subjects" was found in six, while "unifying school activities" was found
only four times. The replies of the twenty-two students who had had
no teaching experience were also examined. The terms they used varied
very little in meaning from those used by the experienced members of
the class.
The quotations from writers made in an earlier paragraph of this
paper and the replies from the members of the class given above rather
indicatively suggest that there is still some lack of understanding among
writers and teachers as to the meaning of this much-used term. It calls
to mind the incident of the school boy who was out hunting with his
insect net. His teacher asked him what he was hunting for and he
replied, "Wooglies." The teacher being unfamiliar with this species of
insect asked the boy what it looked like. The boy replied that he did
not know; he had never seen one. And so it seems here. Those who are
pleading for the use of some form of large unit in instruction, and even
those who are now trying its use, appear very much at sea in giving
definite statement to what they are after. What is the project? What
is the large unit in teaching? It may be safe to suggest that the large
unit in teaching is a plan of organizing the materials for instruction.
This organization must be around a central idea; it must include all
relevant materials and activities from the curriculum; and promote
motivation through interest. Even this statement does not include any-thing
about the child's participation. But one has to stop somewhere.
A careful study of the writings on the matter, and the efforts of teachers
in its use reveals one significant fact. It is the tendency to take the
curriculum to the child instead of the old practice of taking the child
42 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
to the curriculum. In all the "pros" and "cons" of this large unit affair
the child is beginning to emerge as the center of school activities. And
that is as it should be. Learning is nothing more nor less than having
experiences. And teaching is selecting and organizing the materials of
instruction in the child's school life so that his most desirable development
will be promoted through these selected experiences.
How is one to acquire the ability to use this teaching device? In
the absence of a more refined philosophy and aim of the project, and a
more definite pronouncement of its characteristics and method of organi-zation,
most any sort of an answer to this question is dangerous. It
seems, however, that the simplest way to do this is to go to some teachers
college and be trained for it. But it is not quite that simple. For some
reason or other colleges do not give loud publicity to the fact that they
offer such training. An examination of thirty-five 1929 catalogs and sum-mer
school announcements from teachers' colleges, State universities, nor-mal
schools, and various other colleges having departments of education
showed that only nine of these institutions advertised training in the use
of the project, or some other form of large unit teaching. Sometimes
this training was offered in a general methods course and sometime for
some special subject like "Teaching Reading," or "Teaching Language,"
etc. Whenever mention was made of it, it was usually along with a
large number of other topics to be studied in the same course. For
instance, one college mentioned it with twelve others, such as, "social
objectives, factors of environment, special types of learning, the principle
of interest," etc. These thirteen topics were to be done in one year's
time at the rate of one reading hour and one recitation hour per week.
It is noteworthy that a great deal of training in the use of large units
is not offered and, wherever training is offered, it does not carry the
earmarks of thoroughness. A similar situation is encountered when one
examines the answers of the fifty-eight students referred to above. The
largest amount of training indicated by anyone of them was "about two
weeks." If the condition obtains generally that is revealed here, certainly
there is little encouragement for one to seek training in the use of the
project.
Another way to acquire ability in the use of the project is to procure
literature on it, study this literature, work out a plan, and go to it.
According to the replies from the students in the test course mentioned
above, this seems to be the most prevalent practice. It will be recalled
that, of the nineteen experienced teachers who had used the project,
less than half had had training for it. Of the fourteen inexperienced
teachers who were expecting to use it only two had had training for it.
To say that a teacher must sponsor his own training in this form of
instruction is perhaps stating a near fact. For one to attempt self-instruction
about the project and its uses, it will be necessary to invoke
the aid of some guiding principles. Some sort of technique will also be
necessary, but that must be left to the individual. Below are stated
some suggestions which might serve as guiding principles. (1) Start
with a purpose. (2) Use simple projects at first. (3) In the project
activity make the thing to be done pertinent to the purpose of the project
undertaken. (4) Avoid the use of materials or procedure that wastes
the child's time. (5) Make it a practice to present the materials of
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 43
instruction in the simplest and most direct manner. In other words,
if the thing can be taught without the use of the project, don't use it.
(6) Avoid the use of exciting elements in situations, if learning is
desired. (7) The maximum of the child's time spent on big units should
probably not exceed fifty percent of his total school time. (8) Remember
that the practice of allowing children to select what is to be done is laden
with many dangers. It must be kept in mind that they are likely to
err in the choice of what they need. On the other hand the other extreme
is also undesirable. Train them to select. The proper balance between
the selection of materials that will give the child training along the lines
nature has started him, and the materials which provide the experiences
the race has found most profitable is a problem which still requires some
thought for solution. (9) Some failures are to be expected. Success
rewards only effort. (10) Finally, don't abandon successful methods
and technique for something doubtful.
RECREATIONAL READING IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES
(Grace Brunson, Teacher, Winston-Salem Public Schools,
Weston-Salem, North Carolina)
Since we, as school administrators and teachers, realize how truly
recreational reading gives wings to the imagination, lifts the common-place
things to planes of beauty, stimulates endeavor to do greater things,
and creates ideals of higher living, we are convinced that recreational
reading helps greatly in solving the problem of which Dr. Samuel Chester
Parker spoke, when he said, "We are concerned with the problem of
bringing as much of fun and frolic and quiet contemplative enjoyment
into the lives of the people as we can without interfering with their
service of society.
A favorable attitude toward reading "just for pleasure" has been
rapidly developing in our schools within the past few years, probably
due in a large measure, to the emphasis placed on silent reading which
has undoubtedly increased to a marked degree the reading rate and com-prehension
of the children, and has made necessary the supplying of
more varied reading materials to satisfy their desire to explore strange
and unknown worlds through their reading activities. Well selected
grade and school libraries with a wide range of reading to satisfy the
varying abilities and tastes, hearty coopei'ation with city and county
libraries, and books in the homes are means by which children may be
taught "the habit of indulging in reading as one form of congenial
recreation."
The number of people who have learned to read and do not enjoy
reading is many times too large. The real test of reading instruction is
the extent to which reading interests and tastes carry over into life
outside the schoolroom and on into adult life. Much extensive reading
should be done by pupils of the grammar grades that their experiences
may be extended and enriched. For this extensive reading, an abundance
of material, not too difficult, covering many fields of interest, and full
of action and spirit should be provided. A serious mistake is sometimes
44 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
made in trying to force adult literature and adult standards upon gram-mar
grade children, and instead of establishing desirable permanent
reading interests, a distaste for reading, in general, is formed.
During the past school year, the Grammar Grade Teachers of the
North Carolina Education Association conducted a research study on
"Recreational Reading in the Grammar Grades of North Carolina." It
was my privilege to serve on the central committee and to make the
final report on this study at the State meeting in March. We feel that
as a result of this research study, some rather valuable data on the
status of recreational reading in the larger schools of the State were
obtained. I have been requested to give a very brief summary of some
phases of this research report this afternoon. Questionnaires, formulated
by the central committee, were sent out through the office of the State
Department to the principals of the larger schools of the State. Eighty-eight
returns, some being the combined reports of entire counties, were
received by the committee.
The grammar grade pupils, included in these returns, totalled 10,297
from schools whose grammar grade enrollment ranged from 91 to 597.
Ninety per cent of these pupils had access to school libraries ranging
in size from 50 to 4,205 volumes of recreational reading, while seventy-three
per cent of these pupils had access to a county or city library,
but only twenty-six per cent of them had cards. Only five schools
reported subscriptions to a daily newspaper. Eighty-one per cent of
these pupils had a regular time during the school day for recreational
reading, averaging one period a week of twenty-three minutes in length.
Seventy-two per cent of them observed Good Book Week, eighty-six per
cent had reading clubs. Thirty-three per cent of them had access to
library vacation reading clubs, but only six per cent were members.
Only fourteen per cent of the children reported home libraries with as
many as fifteen volumes of recreational reading for children, and only
five per cent of the pupils had access to their school libraries during
vacation.
From this part of the report, we see that two of the decided weak-nesses
seem to be in the homes which are so deficient in providing good
recreational reading, and in the provisions made for vacation reading by
the schools, and the limited participation in public library vacation read-ing
clubs.
Some of the public libraries are doing a remarkable work in the
vacation reading clubs. Being familiar with the library in Winston-
Salem, I know that for four summers they have conducted reading clubs,
each member of which was required to read and report on at least
twelve books from a graded list to receive an award at the end of the
summer. During the winter they have two "story hours" each week;
one for the white children and one for the colored children.
Other parts of the report on the research study contained methods
of caring for individual differences among children, a list of the twenty-five
most popular books found • in the school libraries, a list of the new
books suitable for grammar grade children, and a suggested list of
children's magazines.
In conclusion, may I summarize the following methods of encouraging
recreational reading in the grammar grades: Well-selected school and
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 45
grade libraries with a wide range of reading, hearty cooperation with
public libraries, good home libraries, "story hours" in the schools given
by the librarians, book exhibits of attractive editions, book programs
—
some communities need to be aroused to the realization that books offer a
means of recreation—and pageants and plays which have a special charm
for most people. Any combination of these methods or others are worth-while
if they result in creating a real desire to read, for good reading
"feeds the spirit and provides for a wholesome leisure."
STANDARD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN NORTH CAROLINA
(Susan Fulghum, State Inspector of Elementary Schools,
State Department of Public Instruction, Raleigh, N. C.)
Foreword: This paper will attempt to give data concerning three
phases of education in the public elementary schools of North Carolina,
namely: (1) The increase in number of schools, 1925-1929; (2) the
use of the library in connection with large unit studies; and (3) the
outstanding needs of the elementary schools in North Carolina.
1. Growth: There are today 326 standard elementary schools in the
State with an enrollment of more than 157,000 children or approximately
one-third of the total elementary school enrollment for 1928-1929.
Five years ago when the standards for elementary schools were first
set up, there were 270 rural schools which had the proper length of
term and number of teachers—but only 26 of these schools met all
requirements and could be classified as standard schools. There has been
great progress each year and today of the 445 rural schools with an
eight months term and seven teachers, 208 are standard schools.
In the cities of the State rapid progress has been made each year
and today there are 118 standard elementary schools as compared with
30 such schools five years ago. And the growth of the libraries in
standard elementary schools is most encouraging. Five years ago, except
in some of the cities, very few elementary schools had even small libraries.
At that time, in the larger rural schools there was a total of less than
8,000 books. But the situation today presents a vastly different picture.
Perhaps, in no phase of our educational progress has greater interest been
shown. There has been wonderful growth each year, and today, in the
standard elementary schools of the State alone, there are more than
279,000 volumes with more than 113,000 of these in the rural schools.
These carefully selected interesting books have been widely read, for the
records from the schools show more than 70,000 rural children reading
library books, and 600,000 volumes loaned during the present year. In
the city schools which are now standard, there are more than 165,000
volumes. The circulation record for both rural and city standard ele-mentary
schools show more than 1,200,000 books read by the children
this year.
The long list of standard schools by counties and cities, shows how
untiringly the people of the State have worked, especially the Parent-
Teacher Associations, to place a standard elementary school within the
reach of every child. All of the larger rural schools and the city schools
46 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
which have not yet met all requirements for standard schools, are working
earnestly toward this end and a large number will become standard
next year.
2. Use of the Library in Connection With Large Unit Studies: It h

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Educational Publication No. 146—Div. of Information and Statistics No. 3
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
FIFTH ANNUAL NORTH CAROLINA
CONFERENCE ON
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
(Called Jointly by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction
and the Director of the University Summer School.)
EDITED BY
M. C. S. NOBLE, JR.
Executive Secretary
CHAPEL HILL, N. C, JULY 11-12, 1929
published by the
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Raleigh, N. C.
INTRODUCTION
The rural elementary school, when considered as a unit over the State,
according to all the statistics in this department, is at the bottom of
every ordered classification. This is true in respect to all the following
measures: The length of the term, the housing facilities, the per capita
costs, the classification of children, the grade promotions, the age-grade
tables, the attendance records, and the training of the teachers employed.
From the consideration of all the facts now available, the rural elemen-tary
school seems to be the neglected part of the system.
For the improvement of the conditions under which elementary in-struction
is given the following movements have been inaugurated: For
the extension of the term, for the improvement in teacher training, for
rural school supervision, for library facilities, for standard schools, and
for the enrichment and modification of the curriculum. Each one has
made a contribution.
The Conference on Elementary Education, projected by the joint
agreement of the Director of the University Summer School and the
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, is tending both to clarify
and to unify the thinking in this field. It serves as a clearing house
for the interchange of the best thought. It serves also as a forum in
which the questions arising in connection with the improvement of the
elementary school may be discussed without restraint. There has been
no effort to solidify the deliberations into formal resolutions or state-ments
of objectives which would be binding upon its members. There
are no censors to determine what views are orthodox. On the other
hand, each person is free to present his views in his own way, and to
carry away with him only such impressions as meet his own approval.
It is very gratifying to note the increased interest from year to year.
The discussions show that foundation work is now being done on a wide
scale in North Carolina. The papers presented in the fifth conference
are of an exceptionally high order. In the most instances, they represent
the outcomes of actual field experiences.
Believing that the proceedings of this conference are of permanent
value, I am causing them to be printed in order that they may be avail-able
for the use of all who may be interested in better elementary
education.
The sponsors of this conference are deeply gratified at the fine re-sponse
of the workers in the field of elementary education. The secre-tary
of the conference, Dr. M. C. S. Noble, Jr., has edited the material
in this bulletin. It is presented here as nearly as possible in the exact
form in which each author prepared it.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
c
12-5-29—3M.
COMMITTEE IN CHARGE OF THE PROGRAM FOR THE
CONFERENCE ON ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
R. E. Boyd
E. C. Brooks
Annie Cherry
John H. Cook
B. B. Daugherty
Pauline Edwards
Executive Committee
A. T. Allen
N. W. Walker
M. C. S. Noble, Jr.
Advisory Committee
Mary Fitzgerald
W. H. Frazer
W. P. Grier
Ruth Heilig
Louisa Hill
H. T. Hunter
Mary Knight
Bertha Lawrence
John C. Lockhart
Estelle Rawls
J. M. Shields
P. C. Stringfield
Robert H. Wright
Presiding Officers at Regular Sessions
E. J. Coltrane
John Carr
G. B. Phillips
J. T. Jerome
Summarizers of Discussions
A. T. Allen
W. H. Frazer
R. H. Wright
N. W. Walker
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The Executive Committee of the Fifth Annual North Carolina Con-ference
on Elementary Education wishes to extend its thanks:
1. To the members of the Advisory Committee who rendered many
valuable suggestions in connection with the preparation of the
Program.
2. To the following persons who assisted in summarizing for the
Conference the achievements of the separate Sessions: Dr. A. T.
Allen, Dr. W. H. Frazer, Dr. Robert H. Wright, and Dean N. W.
Walker.
3. To the four chairmen who presided so efficiently over the regular
sessions of the conference, namely: Supt. E. J. Coltrane, Dr.
John Carr, Supt. Guy B. Phillips, and Supt. J. T. Jerome; and
to Mr. Robert House who served as host and toastmaster at the
conference dinner.
4. To those persons who presented papers during the Conference, and
5. To all persons whose interest in elementary education caused them
to attend and participate in the Fifth Annual Conference on
Elementary Education.
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
FIFTH ANNUAL NORTH CAROLINA CONFER-ENCE
ON ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
FIRST SESSION
Solving Problems of Retardation in the Elementary Schools in Such
a Way as to Further Child Development
E. J. Coltrane, Presiding Officer
Page
1. Reducing the Percentage of Retardation in the First Grades—Mary E. Leeper S
2. Reducing Retardation Through the Classification of the Six-Year-Old
—
Mrs. H. T. Latham . 7
3. Reducing Retardation Through the Establishment of Opportunity Classes for Pupils Who
Are Mentally Proficient but Who, for Various Reasons, Have Lost Some Ground
—
M. R. Trabue ._... 9
4. Reducing Retardation in Edgecombe County by Means of a County Wide Survey
—
W. H. Pittman 1
1
5. Reducing Retardation in Craven County Through a Study of Problem Cases in Craven
County—R. S. Proctor , 13
6. Pupils Cumulative Permanent Records as a Means of Reducing Retardation
—
H. F. Srygley ... 15
SECOND SESSION
Some Phases of Child Development
John Carr, Presiding Officer
1. Radio in Education—H. K. Carpenter 20
2. How to Help the Elementary School Child in Developing Art Appreciation
—
Lydia A. Bancroft 22
3. How an Analysis of Health Education in a North Carolina County May Further the
Development of Children of Elementary School Age Within That County
—
Nettie Brogdon _ 24
4. The Emotional Development of the Child of Elementary School Age—Frazer Hood 27
5. How to Aid the Elementary School Child in Developing Character—K. C. Garrison 29
6. How to Aid the Elementary School Child in Developing Proper Social Attitudes
—
Mrs. Gladys Hoagland Groves 31
THIRD SESSION
Methods of Instruction for Furthering Child Development
Guy B. Phillips, Presiding Officer
1. An Activity Program in Mecklenburg, County Schools—Eloise Rankin 33
2. Free Activity Work in the Elementary Grades—Annie Wilcox 35
3. An Activity Program for Primary Departments—-Mrs. James A. Robinson 38
4. Big Unit Teaching in the Elementary Grades—Karl Adams 40
5. Recreational Reading in the "Grammar Grades—Grace Brunson . 43
6. Standard Elementary Schools in North Carolina—Susan Fulghum 45
7. Some Attainable Objectives in Six Supervisory Activities in the Elementary Grades
Mary L. Knight .- . 47
FOURTH SESSION
Solving Administrative Problems of the Elementary School
in Such a Way as to Further Child Development
J. T. Jerome, Presiding Officer
1. Supervision in a Union School by One of the Elementary Teachers Who is a Part Time
Principal—Gladys Thoroughgood _ * 52
2. Supervision in a Straight Elementary School by a Principal Who is a Full Time Prin-cipal—
Sallie B. Marks — -__ 54
3. Analysis of the Duties of a Union School Principal With Specific Reference to Child
Development—R. G. Anders 55
4. Ways by Which the Superintendent of a Supervised County May Aid His Principals in
Furthering Child Development—John C. Lockhart .. _..... 58
5. Ways by Which the Superintendent of an Unsupervised County May Aid His Principals
in Furthering Child Development—K. R. Curtis 60
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
SOLVING PROBLEMS OF RETARDATION IN THE
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN SUCH A WAY AS
TO FURTHER CHILD DEVELOPMENT
REDUCING THE PERCENTAGE OF RETARDATION
IN THE FIRST GRADE
(Mary E. Leeper, Director, Park Avenue Kindergarten,
Asheville, N. C.)
Foreword: Before any intelligent steps can be taken toward improv-ing
a condition, the underlying cause, or causes, must be discovered and
faced. Answers to the question, "What are the causes of retardation in
the First Grade," from approximately fifty people representing school
executives and teachers, group themselves under four main heads, namely:
(1) Poor teaching, (2) Undesirable home conditions, (3) Physical unfit-ness,
and (4) Lack of reading readiness.
I. Poor Teaching: On the first cause, poor teaching, I wish you might
have heard a lecture given last week by Dr. Trabue before the N. E. A.
in Atlanta, on "Training the Teachers of Young Children." Some of the
points he stressed particularly were: (1) Giving, by selection, the privi-lege
of this training only to those showing special abilities and power
for the work. (2) Intensive, practical training. (3) More opportunities
for practice teaching, with large groups of children, in public school
situations.
II. Undesirable Home Conditions: When discussing undesirable home
conditions as a second cause of retardation, we would remember the
homes found in every community where children are being reared in
wholesome, normal, happy atmospheres; where intelligent cooperation is
given to the school. But there are also homes where barren environment,
ignorance of health principles, lack of mental stimulus, and perhaps,
little moral training, send sadly handicapped children to our first grades.
In homes of this type parents give little understanding or cooperation to
the teacher.
III. Physical Unfitness: Physical unfitness, the third cause of re-tardation
mentioned, might, in many cases, also be traced to unfavorable
home conditions. This is the cause which our medical friends would have
us think most important. Inability to do easily the work of the first
grade is sometimes due to physical defects, to anemic condition, or to a
lowered vitality. Certainly no child should be expected to do good work
who, perhaps, does not see well, or hear well, or who must be absent a
great deal because of illness. In the majority of cases this unfitness can
be removed by proper attention.
In our present scheme of things the child may have medical care
from the State until he is one year of age, then he must shift for himself
until he enters school and comes again under the supervision of health
authorities. It is in this in-between period that so often slight defects
become real handicaps. Eyes, teeth, and tonsils, must be examined and
necessary corrections made. The forming and practicing of good health
6 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
habits in these early years can accomplish much if cooperation is secured
between the efforts of teacher, nurse, doctor, parents, and child. But the
time to do this is not while he is making his first-grade adjustments.
It must be done earlier.
IV. Lack of Reading Readiness: We now come to the fourth out-standing
cause of retardation in the first grade, namely, the lack of
reading readiness. And what is reading readiness? Is it not the desire
within the child to be able to learn to know for himself what is on the
printed page?
How many children entering the first grade have this readiness, or
desire, or urge? Do the majority of them love books and know how to
handle them? Do they listen to and enjoy stories told or read to them?
Do they like and know any rhymes or poems? Have they vocabularies
broad enough and experiences varied and rich enough to bring under-standing
and meaning to the reading of the stories? Are they skilled
in clear pronunciation and enunciation? Do pictures interest them and
stimulate creative language work? Have they formed the habit of think-ing
through hard problems? Have they had the opportunity of working,
playing, and living with large groups of children near their own age, so
that first grade adjustments, both social and emotional, are smoothly
made? You will agree with me that unfortunately this is not what we
find, but just the opposite. And what do we do about it?
The majority of our first grade teachers do violate, and are sometimes
compelled to ignore, the first fundamental law of learning, and thrust
large groups of these children into formal reading, forcing upon them
all the mechanics that will be necessary if they are to "make the grade."
What are the results? Many slow, stumbling, ineffective, unhappy
word-callers, who have no permanent interest in reading, and a resulting
distaste for it; children who have acquired a keen sense of their own
inability to do what is required of them. They are marked at school
and censored at home. They mistrust their own powers and quite often
cover up their bitterness of heart at being left back, by saying, "I don't
care." Too often this grows into a reality, and something happens to
those children that can never be undone.
V. Pre-School Education: Facing these causes of retardation, we
might stand appalled were it not for the hope we can see in the "Junior
Primary," the "Lower Primary," the "Kindergarten," or whatever name
you may care to give to the period of time preceding the child's entrance
into the first grade, regardless of his chronological age.
Here the child may be,—under the leadership and guidance of a
carefully selected, scientifically trained teacher—in an environment that
is stimulating him to develop into a child free from physical handicaps;
a child who by daily exercise is constantly strengthening the fixation
of desirable health habits. By participating in the interesting happenings
of the group, he is building up from within attitudes of interest and love
for school, an eagerness to know how to read, self-responsibility, and the
ability to render constructive judgment of his own work and that of the
work of others. He is acquiring and strengthening day by day, habits
of prompt and regular attendance, of persistent effort in working out
difficulties, of independence of thought and action; of industry and con-centration.
His knowledge is growing daily through stories, songs, poems,
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 7
rhymes, games, and dramatizations. Well-planned excursions give him
real experiences to talk about, and a richer background. His vocabulary-grows;
his pronunciation and enunciation improve, and symbols hold real
meaning for him.
Those who observe closely and follow day by day can surely see the
overcoming of undesirable home conditions, the changing of the physically
unfit into strong, happy, alert children, and the daily growth of attitudes,
habits and knowledge that make for strong reading readiness. So shall
they enter the first grade, able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the
others, and with heads up.
VI. Pre-School Education in Asheville: In Asheville the kindergartens
are a part of the public school system. Our primary supervisor has been
watching the retardation problem closely and reports as follows:
1. Classification tests were given all the children entering the first
grade in 1927. 24% of the children who had at least one semester in
kindergarten were found to belong to the A group; while only 14% of
the non-kindergarten children met the requirements of that group. At
this time definite and concerted efforts were made to improve the work
of the kindergartens, especially along the lines of reading readiness.
Additional standards and goals were set up, and a new curriculum
worked out.
2. In 1929 the classification tests given the first grade entrants re-vealed
the follewing: (a) 48% of the children from the kindergarten
belonged to the A group, while only 12% of the non-kindergarten children
fell into that classification, (b) In June, 1929, 25% of the non-kinder-garten
children in the first grade failed to "make their grade," as against
10% of children who had been in kindergartens, (c). In January, 1928,
36% of the first grade children were retarded. In June, 1929, the per-centage
had dropped to 17.5, slightly over one-half.
Improvements in the first grades were no doubt partially responsible
for this decrease; but a comparison of retardations between the kinder-garten
and the non-kindergarten groups, 25% as against 10%, would
seem to indicate and prove that the kindergarten was a large contribut-ing
factor in reducing the percentage of retardation.
In view of these findings, do you not think that pre-first grade train-ing
reduces retardation in such a way as to further child development?
REDUCING RETARDATION THROUGH THE CLASSIFICATION
OF THE SIX-YEAR-OLD
(Mrs. H. T. Latham, the Washington Public Schools,
Washington, N. C.)
To reduce retardation and to help retarded children are matters of
much importance in the schools of Washington, North Carolina. Having
studied the types of retarded children and noted the causes of retardation,
we are to some extent prepared, at the beginning of the school year, as
to what to expect in the first grade.
The John H. Small School is organized on the homogeneous grouping
plan. The first grade has five sections. At the beginning of school these
8 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
children are divided alphabetically for these sections. At the end of the
first week The Pinter Cunningham Test is given to four of these sections.
The fifth section is in the second year of first grade work and has had
this test the previous year. These four grades then receive the new
children according to their ability as shown by this test.
But not even a test can always judge the mind of a child. We know
their ways are past finding out. To meet this expected condition, a
second test—the "Detroit First Grade Test"—is given at the end of six
weeks. By this time the teacher who has watched her children closely,
has found hidden qualities or perhaps handicaps that may not be easily
overcome and with this information added to the test, a reclassification
is made. This classification now gives us the X section, those with the
highest I. Q.; the Y section, those with good I. Q. ; the Z section, those
whose I. Q.'s are below average; the special section which is a subnormal
group and unable to do a year's work in first grade; and still another
section consisting of the previous year's special section with a few
repeating pupils from other sections.
The children of a homogeneous group work better together. Bright
children often overshadow the slow ones, and the slow ones become even
more reticent alongside the bright ones. Every little child wants to be
in the "high" section even though she knows nothing of its work, or
demands, and often a precocious miss, boasts that she is in a "higher"
grade than her little neighbor. These troubles are eliminated, quite
often, after the second classification.
The course of study is planned as nearly as possible to meet the
abilities of each group. The methods of presenting the subject matter
differ in the sections. The amount of work varies greatly; the highest
section sometime covering four times the- amount of work done in the
lowest section.
The first three sections follow the same course in proportion to
ability. In another section, are children who are doing the regular work
but taking two years for it. Yet, they are not repeating the same work
but are those who have come up from the lowest or fifth section of the
preceding year. The reading matter as well as the nature work and
geography is new material.
In the fifth section are subnormal children. The mental ages of
these children are about four or five years. Yet, all of these are over
six years of age. Most of these advance to the higher first grade, at the
end of the first year. Some extreme cases remain in the same grade.
This is really the problem room but to see them at work, happy, in a
congenial atmosphere, doing their best—though such a small bit may
seem to be accomplished—is an inspiration to other teachers to work
more than ever with the minds that can receive. These little children
are never made to feel that they "are different." They are so often
praised, I sometimes think they will develop a superiority complex. These
children are of pre-school age mentally and the work here is to build
up a large speaking vocabulary, to widen experiences, to adjust them
to school life and school spirit, and to prepare them for first grade work.
Hygienic measures and health laws are taught, and aids to physical
defects are given wherever possible.
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 9
At the end of the year a final achievement test—Gates' Primary
Test—is given. This divides the five first grades into three groups for
second grade work, and a fourth or special grade composed of first and
second grade subnormals and misfits.
The other grades from second to ninth inclusive are divided into X,
Y, Z, sections. The subnormals are placed in ungraded rooms in three
groups, one primary, one grammar grade, and one Junior High School,
the work for each section adjusted to the ability of the group.
A two-fold benefit arises from this grouping, namely: (1) a benefit
to the group itself, and (2) a benefit to the rest of the grades. The
fact that they are so divided does not prevent retardation, but proper
sectioning does make health, ability, diverse interests, and other class-room
problems much easier to solve and also reduces the number of
problems for any one teacher to solve. These children are taught to
cooperate with each other. Initiative is developed, and they have a
feeling of success because of being able to accomplish the work assigned,
whereas they would become discouraged in a fast-moving group. Self-reliance
and a good civic attitude are encouraged; and extreme school
loyalty is much in evidence.
Six years ago, before sectioning was tried in our school, 142 children
repeated the grades. Two years ago there were 85. This year, with 860
children enrolled, thei*e are only 20 repeating the grades.
REDUCING RETARDATION THROUGH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF
OPPORTUNITY CLASSES FOR PUPILS WHO ARE MENTALLY
PROFICIENT, BUT WHO, FOR VARIOUS REASONS,
HAVE LOST SOME GROUND
(M. R. Trabue, Chairman, Division of Elementary Education,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C.)
I assume that when we speak tonight of "reducing retardation" we
mean reducing the number of pupils who are older than a specified
normal age for the school grade in which they are classified. I assume
that the phrase "lost some ground," as it appears in my topic, also refers
to the fact that certain pupils are older than a specified normal age
for their grade. The "various reasons" which have caused them to lose
ground, or to grow older than the normal age before being promoted,
are not defined.
My topic states that these people are mentally proficient. I assume
that this phrase is intended to signify that they would, if measured by
the Stanford-Binet Test, show an I. Q. somewhere above .70 or .75.
Having stated my understanding of the meaning of my topic, I am
now ready to make my speech. It is very brief, but it gives my views
on this topic quite fully. I am in favor of "reducing retardation through
the establishment of opportunity classes for pupils who are mentally
proficient, but who, for various reasons, have lost some ground." I am
in favor of any improvement in the public schools in North Carolina that
will make these schools serve more adequately the needs of North Caro-lina
boys and girls.
10 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
Now that I have made my speech and have a few moments left, I
want to say something about retardation or over-ageness. The age-grade
table and the percentage of over-ageness derived from it were
devised about twenty years ago as tentative measures of the degree to
which the schools had adjusted themselves to the abilities and needs of
the boys and girls attending them. There were in those days no scales
or standard tests for measuring objectively the exact achievements of
pupils. The relation of a child's grade to his age was one of the first tests
to be applied in widely separated school systems. It is a crude measure,
depending in each case upon the unpredictable vagaries of many different
teachers. As suggested in the topic on which I was asked to speak,
many pupils have "lost some ground, for various reasons." Promotion
from one grade to another, as practiced in most schools, depends chiefly
upon the subjective judgments of teachers, each of whom uses her own
ideas as standards for determining promotion. Twenty years ago, how-ever,
the age-grade table and the measures to be derived from it were
among the best measures available for determining the efficiency of
schools and school systems.
My purpose in mentioning this matter of history is to raise the ques-tion
as to whether the real purpose of tonight's meeting should be merely
to reduce the percentage of pupils listed as over-age for their grades, or
the larger task of improving the organization, the programs, and the
activities of the school in such ways as to make it serve its pupils and
the State more effectively. Retardation is, as I see it, merely one symp-tom
of maladjustment between the school and its pupils. Should we
not consider fundamental issues that will correct the underlying causes
rather than inquire how we may modify mere symptoms?
If we are at all willing to consider the greater problem, the first
fact that we must face is that children differ in their interests, purposes,
and emotions, as well as in their abilities and achievements. It is abso-lutely
impossible to make them equal, and even if we could make them
equal, it would be utterly undesirable in modern life. Industry, society,
democracy, science, and human happiness demand specialization rather
than uniformity in people. And yet our schools maintain their old pro-cedure
of "promoting" or "failing" pupils in terms of standards which
are supposedly uniform, although objective measurements have long ago
proved that they vary widely from teacher to teacher, or from school to
school.
In other words, schools persist even yet in ignoring the fundamental
fact of individual differences. Retardation and its reduction have been
discussed now for twenty years, but the schools have practically the
same percentage of retardation today as they had twenty years ago,
because they are still using a thoroughly antiquated and outworn pro-motion-
and-failure system. Individual differences in children can never
be eradicated, but it is conceivable that classification schemes might be
changed. Until the schools realize that human nature will not change,
and that the schools must therefore adapt themselves to it, retardation
will continue to flourish. I am not greatly alarmed at the amount of retar-dation,
but I am deeply distressed at the complacency with which school
men continue to disregard the needs of society and the happiness of
children.
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 11
Why should a pupil who has done his best ever fail? If the school
makes a requirement which the pupil cannot meet, it is the school and
not the child that has failed. Pupils who have the same needs and
abilities should have the same instruction, regardless of the grades in
which they are classified. We now have objective means for measuring
the achievements of pupils in various fields, and the records needed by
the school should be kept in terms of these objective scales rather than
in terms of the subjective estimates of teachers.
In short, the promotion or failure of a pupil should be determined
by reference to his own growth' in character and ability rather than in
terms of any previously determined uniform standards in subject matter.
Each pupil should work with other pupils at the tasks which have
greatest value to him and at the difficult level which will be most helpful
to him, regardless of the grade or class to which he belongs. Whether
a pupil is classified as in the second grade or in third-year high school,
if he has a given degree of ability in reading, his instruction in reading
should be at such a level as will help him to make actual progress in
that field. How one is classified should have nothing whatever to do
with the kind of school work he is doing, while what he needs and can
do should have everything to do with it. Such a program would require
school officials to know objectively the various abilities and needs of each
pupil, and to provide a more flexible educational program than is now
offered, but it would throw the emphasis on the child and his welfare
rather than leave it as it now rests upon imaginary standards in subject
matter hidden away somewhere in the dark recesses of the minds of
innumerable teachers.
REDUCING RETARDATION IN EDGECOMBE COUNTY BY MEANS
OF A COUNTY-WIDE SURVEY
(W. H. Pittman, Superintendent of Edgecombe County Schools,
Tarboro, N. C.)
I. Causes of Retardation: Our study of retardation and repeating was
made in December, 1928. We knew many children were retarded and
that we could not promote many children. We considered it a worthy
undertaking to try to find as definitely as possible the precise status of
our backward children and to determine the causes of retardation as
fully as we could from the teacher's opinion of each individual. The
teachers in rural schools know not only the child and his school record
but in large measure know his home environment also.
The teachers were instructed to assign the causes that contributed to
the retardation of each individual. Blank forms were placed in the
hands of each teacher so prepared as to show the name, age and grade
of each pupil and the cause of that child's retardation. The reports of
the teachers show the grade repeated and the number of times each
retardate repeated any grade or grades. The summary of these reports
showed the causes of retardation in the opinion of our teachers to be as
follows: (1) Irregular attendance, 24.55%; (2) Heavy teacher load,
12 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
22.22%; (3) "Slow to learn," 20.73%; (4) Poor health, 10.34%; (5) Late
entrance, 10.13%; (6) Frequent moving, and (7) Poor teaching. An
amusing feature of these reports was the fact that but three or four
teachers reported poor teaching as a contributing factor in our retard-ation.
These teachers were teaching in their grades for the first time.
II. Retardation: A comparison of age-grade distribution in 1924-1925
and 1928-1929 shows 47.31% over age in 1924-1925 and 37.26% in 1928-
1929; 52.69% were of normal or under age in 1924-1925 while 62.74%
were of normal or under age in 1928-1929. 10% fewer children were
over age in 1928-1929. In 1926-1927 we promoted 61% of the elemen-tary
pupils; in 1927-1928, 59.1%, and in 1928-1929, 66.7%.
We examined the records of 2,171 children. Of these 1,108 or 51.03%
were either repeating their present grades or that had repeated past
grades. Many children have repeated the same grade more than once.
The following percentages of enrollment, by grades, are repeaters:
First grade, 47.5%; second grade 50%; third grade 51.34%; fourth grade
48.3%; fifth grade 57.49%; sixth grade 52.95%; seventh grade 50.27%;
total 51.03%.. The figures were tabulated by schools as well as by
grades and it is interesting to note that Battleboro, our only nine months
school, has the lowest percentage of repeaters of all -our schools.
The 1,108 repeaters had been retaught 1,798 times in their checkered
school careers. It was also revealed that the 1,108 repeaters had repeated
the first grade 882 times; the second grade 337 times; the third grade
264 times; the fourth grade 145 times; the fifth grade 82 times; the
sixth grade 72 times, and the seventh grade 16 times.
III. Outcomes: We are unable to know much of definite results that
have come from our study. We believe, however, that the teachers
achieved a keener insight into the problem of retardation. We feel
confident that each teacher's examination of the whole school record of
each of her children has made it more apparent to her that each child
needs certain individual attention. The attendance record is a powerful
weapon in the hands of the teacher or principal when dealing with an
irate parent whose child failed of promotion. Where tabulations were
completed they were placed in the hands of the teachers and an entire
meeting given to discussions of the problem.
We do not place too great confidence in the weight given by teachers
to the several causes of retardation. Teachers cannot know, for instance,
a great deal about the physical handicaps of their pupils. We used,
however, the results of the study effectively in securing the physical
examination of all our elementary children this spring. We recognize
that poor teaching was not given the value it should have had in this
matter,—but we did not expect much to be reported under this head.
In view of the recently proposed increase in teacher load, the fact that
"crowded conditions" ranks second as a factor contributing to retardation
is enlightening. This is especially true since our study was made before
the Legislature convened. Another vital outcome of our survey is found
in the increased respect that our teachers have for complete and accurate
individual records.
Perhaps the best result has been the emphasis placed upon the fact
that we are dealing with individuals rather than with classes.
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 13
REDUCING RETARDATION IN CRAVEN COUNTY THROUGH
A STUDY OF PROBLEM CASES IN CRAVEN COUNTY
(R. S. Proctor, Superintendent of Craven County Schools,
New Bern, N. C.)
This study was made under the direction of Miss Margaret Hayes,
county supervisor, assisted by elementary teachers in the various grades
of the consolidated schools, the principals, and by the county health officer.
The study was an investigation of children in the elementary grades of
the schools, who for various reasons found difficulty in learning. For quite
a long time these children have given us concern. They made up the
grade repeaters, quite often the discipline problems, and certainly they
tended to take the joy out of what otherwise would have proved an
interesting teaching experience for the teacher.
The reason for the study was to attempt to find out the causes for
slow learning on the part of the pupils investigated and to propose and
apply remedies to the individual pupils in order that learning for them
might become a more pleasant experience and that the per cent of retard-ation
might be reduced. Our feeling was that if this group of children
were given attention in time much repetition of work could be eliminated,
the children could be made more confident of their ability to make prog-ress,
and a larger number of promotions would result.
In the fall of 1928 a conference was held with the grade teachers,
principals, supervisor and health officer to discuss the problem, method
of approach, etc. Each teacher was requested to select her worst case.
The spirit and enthusiasm with which all entered into the problem
i*esulted in an achievement that was hardly thought possible for the
first year.
Following is the line of procedure used in the study of the problem
child:
Collection of Data:
1. Giving intelligence tests to all children selected for investigation.
(54 cases were selected.)
2. Giving achievement tests at the beginning and conclusion of the
study.
3. Distribution of blanks to be filled out by the teacher, calling for
information about the home environment, physical history, mental
history, and pedagogical history of the child.
4. Physical examination of the child by the health officer.
5. Observation of each case as the investigation progresses by the
supervisor of schools.
6. Final estimate of the teacher along with all other data secured at
the conclusion of the study.
Through tests, physical examinations and teachers' investigations, the
following facts were revealed about the 54 cases under consideration:
64.8% had health troubles; 64.8% had vocabulary deficiencies; 63% had
mental deficiencies; 59.3% were deficient in paragraph meaning; 53.7%
were poor in sentence recognition; 51.9% had unfavorable home con-ditions;
40.7% had short memory span; 35.2% showed lack of interest;
24.1% were antagonistic, lazy, misbehaved; 14.5% showed poor attend-
14 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
ance; 11.1% were unable to read; 7.4% confused words; 5.6% were weak
in fundamentals of arithmetic; 5.6% mispronounced words; 3.7% were
timid; 3.7% were weak in spelling; 3.7% had language difficulties; 3.7%
had bad study habits; 3.7% had speech impediments; 3.7% were weak
in earlier stages of arithmetic; and 1.9% had either sex difficulties or
lack of background or used lips in reading, or inserted words in reading,
or read too much. A summary of the difficulties showed that there were
a total of 299 causes and 28 different causes. Each child was handi-capped
by from 2 to 10 causes.
After the causes of the difficulties were found immediate steps were
taken to remedy the situation. Specific remedial work was provided by
the supervisor for each of the causes that had to do with the actual
classroom instruction; the health problems, poor attendance, and unfavor-able
conditions were attacked by teachers, supervisor, health and welfare
officer together. Visits to homes, letters to mothers, conferences with
mothers, were used to bring to parents the necessity of their cooperation
in the undertaking.
The results of the attempt to help this group of children were most
gratifying. Fifty-one of the fifty-four cases came through to the end
of school. Progress made in their work ranged from .5 of a year to
2.8 years. No pupil was promoted on .5 a year's progress; above .5
and below .9 of a year's progress promotion was based upon the teacher's
and supervisor's estimates in connection with all data secured. Above
.9 of a year's progress, promotion was made unconditionally. Thirty-one
children out of the fifty-one cases remaining in school were promoted,
or a promotion of 60% of the cases.
The I. Q. of the group ranged from 63 to 108.2. Eighteen had I. Q.'s
of 90 and above; 18 others I. Q.'s of from 80 to 90, and the remainder
ranged from 63 to 80.
In the matter of promotions: Of those children having I. Q.'s of 90
and above, 11 were promoted, 8 were not. Of those children whose I. Q.'s
ranged from 80 to 90, 10 were promoted, 7 were not. Of those children
whose I. Q.'s were below 80, 11 were promoted, 10 were not.
Records of improvement of 13 children during 1927-1928 (year pre-vious
to the study) and 1928-1929 (year of study) are available and
are of interest:
Child No. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Imp.
1927-1928
.5 year
.5
"
.6
""
.4
"
.7
"
.5
"
.6
"
.4
"
1.1 "
.8
"
1.3
"
.6
"
.1
"
Imp.
1928-1929 Total Imp.
.5 year .0
.6
it
.1
2.8 tt 2.2
1.3
a
.9
1.2 tt
.5
.5
(l
.0
.9
tt
.3
1.7 tt 1.3
1.8 tt
.7
.6
it
.2
.8
tt
.5
1.2 tt
.6
.7
tt
.6
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 15
PUPILS CUMULATIVE PERMANENT RECORDS AS A MEANS
OF REDUCING RETARDATION
(H. F. Srygley, Superintendent Raleigh Public Schools,
Raleigh, North Carolina)
It seems to me in my experience in school work, that we should keep
a very complete record of all children, in order to build up school atti-tudes
and thereby increase the interest in attendance, thus preventing
retardation.
In the Raleigh Public School System, we have worked out a form of
record, whereby we can keep in close touch with the child from the point
of view of his social surroundings, his scholastic attainments and his
health. We have worked out this record under six headings as given
below:
Form I. Personal, Family History, and Home Life.
1. Personal History.
2. Family History.
3. Home Life.
Form II. Scholarship and Attendance Record.
1. Residence Record (Admission and Transfers).
2. Elementary School Record.
3. Junior and Senior High School Record.
4. Grade Progress Table.
5. Statistics following graduation.
Form III. Standard Test Record.
1. Test Data.
a. Achievement Tests.
b. Intelligence Tests.
c. Other Tests.
2. Permanent Progress Chart.
Form IV. Record of Growth in Ideals and Character.
1. Character Ratings.
a. Social Traits.
b. Mental Traits.
c. Emotional Traits.
2. General Strengths and Weaknesses in Character,
a. Series of Memoranda at Infrequent Periods.
Form V. Physical and Health Record.
1. Personal Health History.
2. Family Health History.
3. Child's Health Habits.
4. Physician's Examinations of Records.
5. Serious Ailments—Recommendations and Treatment.
Form VI. Vocational Tendencies and Aptitudes.
1. School Interests.
2. Extra-Curricula Activities.
3. Work Outside School Hours.
4. Vocational Interests and Ambitions.
5. Plans for the Future.
16 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
If we keep track of all of the information contained in the above
outline, we will have an accumulation of records for every child during
his entire school life. These records should be of tremendous value in
making conclusions and measuring all results in public school attendance.
We have been too negligent in the past in recognizing creative work
in childhood. One of the big questions we are facing in our schools, is
how to provide an environment which will foster creative development
for every child in a group. Mass instruction does not fulfill the needs
of the individual, for we are not trying to make poets, artists, sculptors
or writers of the children who are under our care. However, we do hold
to the necessity for developing the creative faculty of each individual
pupil.
We have convictions that every normal individual has to a greater
or lesser degree the impulse to create, but each individual has a question-ing
attitude, and the fullest growth is possible only when the child has
a chance to use his natural creative impulses. If we can collect from
time to time samples of work that are the results of a creative atmos-phere
in the school, we will be able to judge whether or not we are
making progress in an advanced way. Take as an illustration of this,
a collection of poems and natural productions, as well as mechanical
productions, find their way to the scrap heap or waste basket. If a
school could build up a museum of things that have been made by
pupils—poems that have been written, arts that have been produced,
music that has been sung, games that have been devised by the pupils,
these would be of inestimable value in judging the worthwhileness of our
efforts. As another illustration of this matter of keeping records of
pupils, I wish to call the attention of my hearers to the following verses
that have been collected by teachers and placed in permanent form for
future reference:
A first-grade child brought a honeybee for the museum and the follow-ing
resulted:
We hear the honeybee buzz, buzz, buzz,
On the soft summer air,
In the night he sleeps and dreams and dreams,
Of sweet flowers everywhere. —Kern; 7 yrs. of age.
Hum, hum, hum, sings the honeybee,
While he sucks the honey from the flowers,
The flowers made the honey from the April showers. —Dorothy; 6 yrs. of age.
Bailey's white rabbit spent a week in school. When he curled up
on someone's coat for a nap, he looked so cunning that Margery was
moved to say the following:
Bailey has a timid rabbit,
His fur is white as snow.
His eyes are soft, his ears are long,
But his tail is—Oh! so short! —Margery; 7 yrs. of age.
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 17
A second grade, while working with their garden, expressed them-selves
in these verses:
Tulip, tulip, please come up,
Catch the dewdrops in your cup.
It would be very much fun,
To see you nodding to the sun.
Flowers, flowers of every hue,
Red, purple, yellow and blue,
In my little garden grew,
'Til the wind came rushing through.
Since we have been hoeing,
The garden has been growing.
—Thomas Rich.
We have planted lots of seeds,
Now we must pull up all the weeds. —Alda and Virginia.
When airships came over the town:
Seventy airships flew our way,
On a pretty Saturday.
One warm, bright sunny day,
Seventy airships came over this way.
They circled above and all around,
Then they went to another town.—Fred Lee.
April has come to town,
The trees are green,
Flowers are creeping,
From long winter sleeping,
Sunshine has come again. —Lillian Holliday; 4B.
THE DAFFODIL LADY
The Daffodil Lady is pretty and gay,
The Daffodil Lady will swing and sway.
Her yellow gown shines like a crown,
With silver bells shining around.
And she swings her partner to and fro,
And they dance in the sunshine as they go.
—Rose Dell Potter; 4B.
18 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
COLUMBUS
Columbus was a man of old,
He and his sailors were very bold.
One day they sailed the ocean wide,
He and his sailors, side by side.
One day his sailors began to fear,
But Columbus told them land was near.
He saw the birds flying in the sky,
And bits of wood tossed on waves high.
When at last on dry land they rode,
They thanked God for their safe abode.
They put up a cross in the name of Spain,
To show that it was their country's gain.
—Elizabeth Utley, 5B.
THE SEA
Many sorrows has it seen,
Many rocks has it washed clean,
And I'm sure, if it could speak,
It would tell of men that -seek
Other lands in which to dwell,
Men on ships with goods to sell.
Many fish in its waters hide,
Big fish that dart, swim, and glide.
And many a brave sailor has made his grave,
While other lives he tried to save,
And down in the waters so very deep,
Many a captain was made to sleep.—Virginia Thomas; 5A.
THE TREES BEHIND OUR SCHOOL
The trees behind our school
All look so very cool.
While the shadows are long and deep,
All the birds go to sleep.
There is the mighty oak
Which still stands so proud.
No one is allowed
To harm the trees behind our school.
The trees behind our school
Are all around a deep, blue pool,
When the birds come by with a song
The trees invite them to bring their babies along.
We have a garden in one corner.
Our log cabin is in the other.
Neither one is better
Than the trees behind our school.
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 19
All the birds go flying by,
Forming a dim outline in the sky.
On the ground is the grass
Of the very finest class.
This is the bird's playground,
The best ever found.
Please keep this rule,
"Be kind to the trees behind the school."—Charles Swan; 6B.
CALL OF THE WOODS
Oh, I've heard the call of the tall white pine
And the call of the running brook;
I'm tired of tasks which each day are mine,
I am weary of reading a printed book.
I want to get out of school and strife,
And the clanging of a bell,
And walk for a day where life is life,
Where joys are true and pictures are real. —Gladys Woodward; 6B.
As a final sentence, too many good things are lost in child life, too1
many opportunities are neglected, too many fine sentiments are over-looked,
because of the teacher's indifference due to lack of ability to
accumulate the wonderful things that have been created by school chil-dren.
If such records as these were kept, I am sure there would be
more interest in school work. More interest in school work, would cer-tainly
create better attendance, and the results would be more highly
appreciated by parents, teachers, supervisors, and children.
20 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
SOME PHASES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
RADIO IN EDUCATION
(H. K. Carpenter, Manager, Radio Station W. P. T. F.,
Raleigh, North Carolina)
Radio is a new industry; and like other new industries grows so
rapidly that even those in the work find it very hard to keep abreast
of developments. As compared to what it is hoped radio will accomplish
in the future, the progress which has been made so far consists of
merely the most elementary steps. Being a new industry, radio must
prove its value as it goes along; and also it must overcome the natural
tendency of so many of us to frown upon anything that is new.
The use of radio in connection with school work, both elementary and
advanced, has recently been cropping out in spots all over the United
States. This is noticed particularly in the public schools in Oakland,
Atlanta, Cleveland and Chicago. And, as you probably know, the
Extension Divisions of most universities are beginning to accept all invi-tations
tendered them to broadcast programs of specific interest to the
alumni of the institutions. A number of colleges and universities,
especially in the Middle West, own and operate their own broadcasting
stations, and in a few isolated instances, college credit is given for the
completion of radio extension courses. Probably the most elaborate
attempt, however, has been that of the Radio Corporation of America
in broadcasting their series of morning concerts played by Walter Dam-rosch
and his Symphony Orchestra.
When it comes to the actual consideration of what can be done in
each particular instance, there are several problems to be faced. First,
what are the types, of broadcast available in your particular community?
Second, if the programs are to be more or less under the supervision of
the educational authorities, what speakers, musicians, and teachers can
be secured to appear in the studios? Third, the cost of sending out any
given radio program is rather larger than most people suspect; some
firm or organization must be found which can be induced to furnish the
necessary broadcasting facilities. Fourth, the proper means of publish-ing
the plans must be found; these must include not only newspaper
publicity, but a means of taking the necessary information directly into
the schools. Fifth, a proper receiving apparatus must be secured and
installed in the schools. And, sixth, a very definite plan of classroom
procedure must be developed and maintained.
The above problems may seem to be insurmountable, but the fact
of the matter is that they have been solved in some communities, and
are being solved in increasing numbers each year.
Radio in education should be used not only from the viewpoint of the
development of music appreciation, but also for what it can do in con-nection
with the study of such subjects as geography, history and Eng-lish.
Consider the value to children studying geography of being able
to tune in broadcasts in connection with the Byrd Expedition at the
South Pole; the opening of the new International Bridge at Niagara
Falls; and relay broadcasts from European stations. Think of the
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 21
opportunity for the study of history in the making—tuning in such events
as the following which have been broadcast during the past year: The
Pan-American Conference, from Havana, Cuba; the Memorial Service,
from Gettysburg; the annual conference of the American Farm Bureau
in Chicago; Washington's Birthday Celebration in Washington; the
Republican Convention in Kansas City; the Democratic Convention in
Houston; the Inauguration of President Hoover; and many others.
Let us consider for a moment, some things a little nearer home. Since
last September W P T F has been broadcasting educational material
whenever available. This has included a series of Music Appreciation
programs under the auspices of the Music Section of the Raleigh
Woman's Club; the United States Farm Forum; the Farm Flashes; the
World Book Man; Garden Club Talks; and talks from various State
Departments such as Agriculture, Motor Vehicle Bureau, Conservation
and Development, etc.
Besides these features having a very evident educational aim, here
are a few broadcasts sent out from Raleigh during the past year, having
considerable educational content: News flashes, weather forecasts, the
Poet's Corner, Church Services, Tone Pictures, Song Story, the World
Today by Dr. Julius Klein, National Safety Council Series, Roads of the
Sky, and many others.
Of course these broadcasts have a general appeal rather than content
applicable to Elementary School work alone. I mention W P T F and the
programs we have broadcast merely because they indicate the attitude
and work of the great majority of responsible radio stations.
Radio broadcasting and the placement of receiving sets must go hand-in-
hand; a broadcasting station without at least some potential listeners
is about as useless as anything we can imagine. Stations deliberately
broadcast programs which are planned to be pleasing or acceptable to
those who have receiving sets. Why should stations, therefore, send
out lessons in music appreciation for elementary grades when there are
no facilities for receiving these programs. Such broadcasts should not
be put on the air at night when probably a majority of listeners are
adults; and why broadcast them in the daytime when boys and girls
are in school?
On the other hand, why go to the expense of installing apparatus in
schools when little suitable for reproduction in the school is available
on the air?
The answer to these questions is quite obvious: the educational
authorities and the broadcast stations should join hands for their mutual
good. And I know I speak for the broadcasters when I say that they
are more than willing to cooperate in any manner possible.
Of course it has been impossible in this short space of time to do
anything but barely scratch the surface of this subject. May I urge you
to seriously consider the use of radio in your plans for the coming year.
To make the matter very concrete, let me suggest that you do one or
both of two things: First, communicate with your nearest radio station
and enlist the cooperation which undoubtedly is awaiting you, at any
time; and second, write to Miss Alice Keith, Division of Education,
Radio Corporation of America, 233 Broadway, New York City.
22 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
To start, don't bite off more than you can chew—don't try to do it
all at once; for radio is no different than any other business or enter-:
prise; but do something this fall to employ the services radio can bring
you in elementary education. The material is there for the asking, the
boys and girls deserve it, and you personally will have the pleasure of
being in step with the times and affording yourself the opportunity of
some day being able to say, "I can remember when we had no radios
in our schools!"
HOW TO HELP THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILD IN
DEVELOPING ART APPRECIATION
(Lydia A. Bancroft, Professor of Public School Music,
Cullowhee State Normal School, Cullowhee, N. C.)
Little time need be spent in justifying the teaching of art, for we
all realize that by it life is enriched and better and happier citizens
are developed.
The first and greatest essential in developing in the child a sense of
art appreciation is in the training of the teachers so that they will
themselves understand and enjoy beautiful things and be able to interpret
that appreciation in others. In many classrooms little is accomplished
because the teachers have been so instructed in art that it has not meant
to them a tangible art which they are able to interpret to the children.
The second necessity is that we provide school buildings and school
grounds that are in themselves examples of the art which teachers wish
the children to appreciate. This unconcious appeal is very important.
The environment in which we place the child should be the most beautiful
one that it is possible to procure. This point needs emphasis for too
often we are teaching one thing and living another. By such a contra-dictory
life little can be accomplished. In this connection it is well to
realize that to make our schools attractive does not always mean that
they be so very much more expensive. Tinted walls, cabinets, built-in
book shelves, a picture moulding, are all aids in the keeping of a neat,
clean, attractive room yet these are not so very expensive. They are but
the proper setting which will make possible an artistic environment for
the children.
In the discussion of definite classroom problems there is much to be
said. When actual need exists art problems arise in every subject
taught in the elementary grades. Correlation makes possible the fitting
of art into its proper place in the curriculum. Poster, book covers,
Christmas cards, decorations on pottery, the painting of landscapes will
serve to bring to mind the many problems which are typical. The child
learns what it is that makes them fine. He develops a critical sense
in art based on a definite understanding of such principles as balance,
rhythm, and harmony as they appear in line, dark and light, and color.
In such problems good - taste is developed to its greatest extent when
there is constant chance for children making choices between good and
poor arrangements. A wealth of illustrative material does more than
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 23
anything else to help one see what is good design and good color. The
teacher may talk all day but to show the child means much more.
It matters little whether it is a book cover for a first grade Mother
Goose book or a sixth grade geography book. Children should discuss
the size and the shape which will be most convenient and look the best
for the cover. Then what lettering shall be used, how large it shall be,
and where it shall be placed must be considered. The children should
also decide whether any other decoration is needed and if so how large
it shall be and where it shall be placed. Finally, color choices must be
made. To give a specific example, green paper should not be passed to
the class for one problem and brown for another but regardless of the
extra work and the temporary disorder occasioned, each child should be
allowed to come to a table upon which various colored papers have been
placed. There he may make his selection of that which suits his purpose
and pleases his eye. This does not mean that unlimited freedom shall
be permitted. Problems should be chosen and the conditions of their
development arranged to suit the age of the children. The thing I wish
to emphasize is that art appreciation is developed only when the students
are given many occasions in which to make choices between good and
poor designs and between good and poor color combinations.
Again let art problems come very close to the children's everyday
experiences. Let them discuss and offer suggestions for the arrange-ment
of the class room. It may include the handling of pictures, the
arrangement of clippings on a bulletin board, the placing of chairs, table
and books for a library corner in the room. Flowers may be arranged.
Art need not be intangible. Children can understand the same art prin-ciples
which have been used by the Japanese for centuries in their
schools of flower arrangement. Children may profitably take part in
any experience which will give them occasions for developing good taste
in dress, in house furnishing and in advertising. Let the children plan
the beautifying of the school grounds and there will be no need of posting
signs requesting that papers be kept from the school lawn. When they
have had some part in the beautifying of their surroundings "clean-up"
campaigns will not be necessary. Art is an every-day thing after all.
It is not for the few but it means good taste for all. A well-spaced letter,
a nicely arranged spelling paper or a well-drawn map are just as worthy
of attention as a poster made in the art class.
One's sense of appreciation develops through doing. There may be
beauty of proportion and of construction in a well-made piece of
furniture or a rug woven in the school room. Frequent exhibits of the
best work are important and finally a yearly exhibit. Let me make a
plea for more care in the arrangement of such exhibits. One becomes
conscious of the lack of definite art training on the part of many
teachers when one studies the good work of the children which so many
times at county and group-center commencements is displayed unmounted
and badly arranged in too crowded an area. This lack of training is
not the fault of the teachers so much as it is the fault of those in
authority in teacher training institutions who have not themselves
sufficient realization of the value of such training to provide adequately
for it in their courses of study.
24 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
Children of the large cities are becoming familiar with the art of
many distant peoples through the art museums. Classes of children visit
the gallaries and study the exhibits under the leadership of trained
museum guides. We can hardly do this in North Carolina. Let us not,
however, overlook the art that is about us. Children should be led to
see the best that is in their environment. School children who make a
loom and weave on it a rug or a scarf will go home with a greater appre-ciation
for the hand-woven coverlets of their grandmothers than they
had before such an experience. Exhibits may be planned which will
bring together the best art found in the homes of the community. Much
may be done to rid the homes of that which is poor in design and bad
in color and to develop a sense of appreciation in the best that can be
found in the homes. When these things are accomplished we shall be
well on the road toward the Second Renaissance which some writers
claim is about to enter America.
HOW AN ANALYSIS OF HEALTH EDUCATION IN A NORTH CARO-LINA
COUNTY MAY FURTHER THE DEVELOPMENT
OF CHILDREN OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AGE
WITHIN THAT COUNTY
(Nettie Brogdon, Rural School Supervisor, Guilford County,
Greensboro, North Carolina)
The results from an investigation of the causes for failure in the
elementary grades in the Guilford County schools gave conclusive evidence
that the health of the child was a big contributive element in his educa-tional
progress. In order, therefore, to attain "maximum standard pro-motion
of the grade enrollment" which is a goal the schools are striving
for, it seemed evident that some remedial work must be done in health.
Two health aims, therefore, were agreed upon: (1) Every child physically
fit; (2) Positive health teaching. The discussion which follows outlines
the objectives and the initial procedure for health education in Guilford
County.
One of the basis objectives or outcomes of elementary education
should be the growth and improvement of the child's mental, emotional,
social, and physical health behavior in terms of attitudes, habits, skills,
and knowledge. That the elementary schools in Guilford County may
achieve these ends in increasing proportions, the following procedure
was outlined:
1. To utilize all the forces, factors, and natural situations within the
school, the home, and the community for the development and promotion
of mental, social, emotional, and physical health practices, attitudes,
and knowledge of children.
2. To provide opportunities for the practice of mental, emotional,
social, and physical health habits frequently, accurately, and efficiently
in natural situations.
3. To aid children individually to make their own judgments and
to form their own standards for healthful living, social relationships,
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 25
and emotional control through well-directed activities for individual
expression.
4. To study the health needs of individual children, and to guide their
activities as far as possible to meet these needs.
5. To arouse the interest of the children, the parents, and the com-munity
in the improvement of the health conditions and surroundings
of the school, the home, and the community.
6. To develop in the children and the parents an increasing appre-ciation
and cooperation toward the scientific professional services of the
examining physician, the dentist, the nurse, and the welfare worker.
As an initial step in helping teachers to realize these big health
objectives, they were guided in making an objective analysis of the
forces, factors, and natural situations within the school and the com-munity
which influenced the health of the child. Analysis sheets were
prepared for them, which consisted of positive statements or practice
based on practicability in relation to the public school; statements or
practices which in the light of present-day knowledge are educationally
sound and scientifically accurate, and based on the fundamental needs
of childhood. Teachers analyzed their own practices by these positive
statements.
Every phase of the physical equipment was studied such as: Light,
ventilation, heat, water, toilets, etc. The natural situations which arise
throughout the child's day in the school and through which health habits
may be practiced, health knowledge impressed, desirable attitudes built,
and social health adjustments made, were analyzed. These natural situa-tions
were:
1. Transportation to and from school.
2. Activities before and after school.
3. Entering school for day's program.
4. Beginning the school day—the Home Room period.
5. The daily schedule.
6. Morning playground period.
7. Getting ready for lunch.
8. The lunch period.
9. Afternoon recess.
10. Drinking water during the day.
11. Attending toilet during the day.
12. Washing hands during the day.
13. Rest periods for Primary children.
14. Auditorium activities.
15. Class room clean and artistic.
16. Control of communicable diseases.
17. Dismissal of school.
18. After-school activities at the school.
19. Preparation of school work at home.
26 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
The activities within each of the above situations were analyzed. For
example, the situation: "Entering School for the Day's Work," consisted
of the following activities:
1. Entering building from the playgrounds.
2. Assembling in class rooms.
3. Attitude of teachers.
4. Placing of coats, sweaters, hats, etc., in spaces provided for them.
5. Removal of coats, sweaters, overshoes, and hats.
6. Adjusting room ventilation and heat.
7. Observing that no child has wet feet or wet clothing on rainy and
cold days.
A composite score showing the number of teachers observing the
various positive statements was made for each school and the county as
a whole. With the information from this composite score each school
and class room was able to find its own needs and be in a better position
to utilize all the factors and forces in the school and community in
developing a healthful school day. Teachers were helped in the inter-pretation
of their school analysis and given remedial and constructive
assistance through the various supervising agencies in the county. After
six months of remedial work a study was made in order to determine
the results. The data gathered from this study gave: (a) The number
of teachers observing particular healthful school practices one hundred
per cent; (b) of the three hundred forty-four (344) practices included
in the study, reports from the one hundred ninety-eight (198) teachers
showed that the range of practices which had been improved by them
was from one to one hundred twenty-six. At the end of the seventh
month, a second study was made in order to determine the teacher's
needs in teaching materials. These data have been assembled and will
be used in the promotion of this work.
During the past year we have taken only the initial step in realizing
the broad health objectives in education. The analysis which was made
pointed out both the healthful and the unhealthful school practices,
thereby causing many unhealthful practices to be changed. The parents,
represented by the Parent-Teacher Associations are actively interested in
finding their responsibility in assisting the school in the development and
in the promotion of the mental, social, emotional, and physical health
of their children. They have already engaged in many activities which
have shown appreciable results. At present "An Analysis of Health
Practices in the Home," similar to the one used in the schools, is being
prepared for their use.
The outcomes from the correction of remedial physical defects and
the broad health program has contributed much towards attaining the
county-wide objective, "Maximum Standard Promotion of the Grade
Enrollment."
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 27
THE EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD
OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AGE
(Frazer Hood, Professor of Psychology, Davidson College,
Davidson, North Carolina)
In recent years we have awakened to the fact that intellectual train-ing,
rational and moral, fails at a very critical juncture, so that we
behold the brilliant scholars of our primary and secondary schools, while
intellectually disciplined, to go to pieces in certain critical situations and
become in extreme instances charges on the State. It has become pretty
widely accepted today that this breakdown, this failure in life crises, is
due not to any faulty intellectual processes, but to abnormal and para-logical
emotional reactions. The field of research here has scarcely been
entered, and there lies before us much work to do before one can feel
very confident in his tentatively accepted theories. But enough work has
been done to make one feel hopeful of the future.
I want to indicate briefly in this paper something of the nature of
work doing in this field. And as an approach to my subject—"The Emo-tional
Development of the Child of Elementary School Age"—it may be
well to observe that the training of the emotions, so directing their
development, that the child may live his life helpfully both to himself
and to the other members of his social milieu, we must appreciate the
fact, that in contrast to intellectual and motor training, we can work
only indirectly in achieving our ends. The emotions are controlled, or
conditioned by the autonomic and not the central nervous system. The
autonomic nervous system in its functioning differs from that of the
central nervous system in that the central nervous system ?'s under the
control of conscious purposes whereas the autonomic reflex is not under
the control or direction of conscious purposes. Concretely, I cannot will
not to become angry, for instance, if an anger stimulus is presented, but
I can be so trained, either that a substitute rather than the primitive
anger stimulus is necessary to call out the responses, or the natural
response may be made to give way to a conditional response.
Here then, is your objective in directing the emotional development
of the child—either to train him away from responding to the uncon-ditioned
stimulus or to respond to the unconditioned stimulus with a
substitute response. Our aim in educating the emotions then, is not at
all an attempt to root out any of the emotions. It is not at all the
question of how may we banish all fear or all anger responses of the
child. The stimulus to anger, for instance, and the result of such stimu-lation
is a preparation of the organism, through the sympathetic seg-ment
of the autonomic system, for a fighting reaction. This mechanism
of anger is a very strong and vital part of every human being, and he
is an abnormal person who cannot be aroused to anger by an adequate
stimulus. Even if anger, or fear, could be ratine, there would be no
benefit occurring either to the individual or to society in the success of
such an uprootage. But anger like fear and love, is so strong, so vital,
so primitive a part of the psychic furniture of the race, that its excision
could only result disastrously.
28 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
What we hope to do in training the emotional reactions of the child,
and the experimental approach to our problem justifies expectations, is
so to train the child that the reactions to emotional stimuli may be bene-ficial
to the child as an individual and as a member of society.
Through the genetic study of the emotions by Watson, and others,
psychologists are fairly well agreed that there are at least three primitive
emotions. Some say more and a few are inclined to deny on technical
grounds any one definite pattern of emotional responses, but I believe
agreement can be had among the large majority, that from the birth
the child manifests emotional experiences in response to three classes of
stimuli and for the nonce the emotional experiences are classifiable under
three headings: (1) Fear, (2) anger, and (3) love. I also believe there
is pretty wide agreement that the primitive stimuli are: Of fear, loud
sounds and loss of support; of anger, restraint of bodily movements ; and
of love, stroking the skin, rocking, riding on boat, etc.
With these assumptions psychologists have proceeded to test certain
methods which claim to be successful in training the child away from
responding to certain substitute stimuli. The brevity of this paper pre-vents
my doing more than very briefly sketching the conclusions from
laboratory studies of just one emotion. For explanatory purpose I shall
select fear. The problem is to ascertain the most successful and prac-tically
applicable methods of unconditioning fear.
1. One method of "curing" a child from being afraid of harmless
objects is to eliminate the object from the experiences of the child and
by the "law of disuse" finally achieve the result. This may be called the
method of elimination; and it proceeds on the assumption that if we keep
a child protected from such stimuli as arouse fear, for a sufficiently long
time, the stimuli will fail to provoke the responses. Because certain
responses are known to obey the law of disuse, by a false analogy it was
assumed that emotional responses obeyed the same law. The results
reported from the laboratory are that very frequently fear response to
the stimulus returns even after an extended interval. Of course the
impracticability of guarding the child from exposure to undesirable
stimuli makes the method, even if successful, valueless to the teacher.
2. Then, there is the method that consists of talking over with the
child the thing that causes fear, stressing its interesting and attractive
features. We may call this method, the method of verbal appeal. This
has been found to be occasionally successful.
3. We have what may be called the method of negative adaption.
Here the procedure is to let the thing causing fright be presented while
the child is occupied, calling no attention to it, merely allowing it to lie
in sight. This has been found to be occasionally successful.
4. The next method is called the method of repression. Using this
method one proceeds to make fun of the fear state, the boy is afraid
to go to sleep alone in a dark room. We make fun of the boy's fear
and hope by laughing at him to so shame him out of his unreasonable fear
that he will cease being afraid. Of all the methods this is the one most
to be condemned. If you wish to see a probable result of this method
read Augustus Thomas' "The Bewitching Hour." From laboratory reports
we are told that this method often produces sullenness; and sometimes
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 29
it takes psycho-analysis to bring to light what has dropped into uncon-sciousness.
5. The method of distraction directs that with the cause of fear
present, we call attention to attractive features, we characterize it, etc.
You will perceive that this is superficially very similar to method number
3. However, here the stimulus is in the focus, not the margin of atten-tion.
This method has at times proved successful.
6. The method of direct conditioning. If carefully and patiently
employed this method is perhaps the most successful of all. Certainly
experiments made with it show results superior to all others. The pro-cedure
is to use something which the child likes when the fear object is
present, such as food for young children, hoping to transfer the pleasant
association from it to the fear object. But great caution is necessary to
prevent the undesirable quality of the fear object by association to travel
to the desired object. In other words it is possible, highly probable in
unskillful hands, that the child may still remain afraid of the object
and now comes to detest a food which he formerly enjoyed.
7. The method of social initiation closes our catalog. Here we pro-ceed
as follows: Have the child play with the fear provoking stimulus,
if it can be played with, in the presence of children of similar age who
are not afraid of it. The child may withdraw at first, but the example
of the group will usually interest him in the object and he forgets his
fears. All experiments with adults have failed to accomplish the end.
With children, and especially young children it is often successful.
In this fragmentary and laconic presentation I hope I have at least
dropped a hint as to how to proceed in dealing with children's fears,
and negatively, some things to eschew.
HOW TO AID THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILD
IN DEVELOPING CHARACTER
(K. C. Garrison, Associate Professor of Psychology,
N. C. State College, Raleigh, N. C.)
In very recent years the increase in crime in our country—and par-ticularly
the steady reduction in the average age of criminals who find
themselves finally ending in our jails, penitentiaries, and the like—has
become alarming. Although the schools have been playing an important
role, both directly and indirectly, in character development, their work
may be made even more effective if the aims of education and the nature
of the child are more carefully understood by those in charge.
In the first place it is erroneous to conceive of education as an all-powerful
force that can place its hands upon a child in whom habits have
been thoroughly established, and in a short while effect a total change
in his habits. The child's inborn potentialities, past experiences, imme-diate
surroundings, and present stage of development must be considered
with respect to any character trait that is being developed. If strong
drinks are served in the home, then any attempt, by the schools, to teach
30 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
pupils to uphold the enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment promises
to be a failure. Again, if the father persists in breaking the speed
limit while his son Jim watches for the cop, the idea that the policeman
is some spy to be outwitted if possible, is thoroughly instilled in the
child.
Two methods of character education are available, namely: (1) The
indirect or incidental method, and (2) the direct or formal method. The
first method says that character development is related to the various
activities of the child, the motto being "hit while the iron is hot." The
second method calls for a definite program organized on the basis of
certain "traits" or "modes of behavior." The indirect methods finds
expression largely in extra-curricula activities and is especially concerned
with the development of the proper social relations. It is with this
method that I shall concern myself during the remainder of this
discussion.
In the transition from the home to the school many new adjustments
of a social nature are present. The child is placed in a broader social
situation. The habits formed prior to this period are still functioning,
but are destined to be fitted into and modified by the new social environ-ment.
In this social environment the child comes into contact with many
different children and these children come to be a vital factor in deter-mining
his behavior activities. From this group, in later years, play-mates
are chosen. These playmates are chosen largely on the basis of
similarity in physiological and chronological age—from the same locality,
and from the same school room. Especially is this found to be true for
boys. In the case of girls the social factor is more prominent in the
choice of friends. The interests and activities of these children are
going to depend largely upon the guidance of the teachers and parents.
Social workers have £,hown that playmates are the greatest force, aside
from the home, in the making of desirable or undesirable behavior.
Perhaps the greatest single force for the development of character in
children is that of confidence in those who are guiding their activities.
Confidence in the teacher or parent will be a great force in the choice
of desirable play activities. Confidence can only be secured through
sympathetic understanding and fair play. The teacher must know the
child's interests and understand his or her difficulties. The child is con-stantly
meeting new situations, coming into contact with strange situa-tions,
or becoming confused at seme new relations or thought presented.
Curiosity is the natural outcome. And who has not heard the child's
question, due to curiosity, answered in some such manner as this: "You
musn't ask such foolish questions?" Was the question foolish to the
child? Has this answer cleared up the curiosity? Will the child return
to get such an answer when curiosity again is present? It is because
of such behavior on the part of teachers that children get perverted ideas
and often develop very . undesirable habits. Especially is this true in
problems relating to birth and to the sex phases of life.
Again the teacher may actually go so far as to be unfair to the child
in order to carry her point. Have you heard of the teacher who in
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 31
answer to the child's question, can never say, "I don't know?" Have
you not been told of the teacher who refused to allow the child to sharpen
his pencil because of some petty or minor trouble wholly unrelated to
the sharpening of the pencil? Have you ever heard of the teacher who
kept a child at school after the school closed because the child broke
a window light—and probably accidentally at that? We all recognize
that there should be a reconditioning process in connection with the
child's behavior activities, but unless the child sees the reason for the
reconditioning and understands the error in his conduct then the child
will come to look upon the teacher as a person "who will get me if I
don't look out."
The resulting behavior activities will be characterized by "avoidance."
Or in place of a natural spontaneous imitation of the qualities of the
teacher, the behavior of the child will be a mere mockery. When the
teacher has established an attitude of confidence on the part of the pupils
towards her, then her attitude, her ideals and her behavior patterns will
be found present in the behavior of her pupils in her charge.
HOW TO AID THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILD IN DEVELOPING
PROPER SOCIAL ATTITUDES
(Gladys Hoagland Groves, Chapel Hill, N. C.)
Not the "bad child" who makes schoolroom discipline difficult and
intrigues the teacher's interest by presenting her with an obvious prob-lem
to solve, but the "model pupil" who always has his lessons, attends
to class work, and never teases his roommates—this is often the child
who most needs help in making satisfactory social adjustments. The
"bad child" is at least making social contacts, and however bad they may
be he is in a fair way to learn to improve his technique by the simple
process of trial and error; while the "model pupil" may be shirking
every possible contact with his fellows, and making up for his feeling
of inferiority on the playground by grinding away at his work in the
schoolroom. .
The child that is driven to apply himself to his work because he
supposes himself unpopular with his mates will perhaps achieve remark-able
results in his life work, but at the cost of a lasting discontent that
impairs his judgment and prevents his fully enjoying any success that
comes to him. Childhood attitudes form so important a part of one's
adult makeup that nobody can ever get entirely away from the basic
happiness or unhappiness of his early days.
When a teacher sees a child keeping by himself while the others play
or work or squabble together, it is time to take account of that child's
stock. Is he shy because of shabby or over-elegant clothes? Is he phys-ically
handicapped, or burdened by the social stigma of an unsavory
family reputation?
32 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
If one can gain such a child's confidence one may find that he is
harboring resentment against the world because of some handicap that
exists only in his imagination. He may once have been weaker than his
playmates, and not realize that he has outgrown his weakness, or he
may magnify the poverty that means nothing to his playmates. If the
handicap that bothers a child is imaginary or greatly enlarged by his
dwelling on it, he may be relieved to find on talking it over with a
friendly teacher that all he needs to do is to forget it.
When there is a real handicap, the child will need to be assisted or
encouraged to make the most of whatever social talents he has—whether
it be whistling or taking part in games of skill (since he may be unable
to shine in contests of strength) or just the art of being consistently
good-natured.
Once a stand-offish child has been persuaded that he is not funda-mentally
disliked by his schoolmates, but only disliked for his air of
superiority or his readiness to see a grievance where none was meant,
he is in a position to learn step by step to make satisfactory social
adjustments.
1
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 3;
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION FOR FURTHERING
CHILD DEVELOPMENT
ACTIVITY PROGRAM IN MECKLENBURG COUNTY SCHOOLS
(Eloise Rankin, Rural School Supervisor, Charlotte, N. C.)
Foreword: One of our objectives during the past year was to "intro-duce
and develop an activity program based on the needs and interests
of the pupils." I have used the words "introduce" and "develop" because
there were some teachers of the formal type who did not know how to
begin and lacked confidence in themselves and then there was a large
number of teachers who had experience in activity work but needed help.
At all times both teachers and pupils have been encouraged to try their
own ideas, if possible correct their own mistakes, and bring to a successful
conclusion whatever work they have undertaken.
I. Method of Procedure: Two county-wide Primary and two county-wide
Grammar Grade Teachers' Meetings were given over to the dis-cussion
of an activity program which would include among other things,
reports from individual teachers whose classes had done outstanding
work.
Mimeographed copies of the following criteria by Dr. Lois Mossman
for evaluating activities were supplied each teacher:
Some Suggested Criteria for Evaluating Activities*
1. Is it related to the present living experience of the children?
2. Does it give promise of outcomes relatively valuable in life today?
3. Will this work contribute to some of the larger essential goals
of education?
4. Will it give fuller meaning to the experience of child in this
particular environment?
5. Is it hard enough to challenge?
6. Is it easy enough to insure some degree of success?
7. Will it lead on to something more worthy?
8. Does it come out of the children's previous experience?
9. Will it foster an inquiring investigative attitude?
10. Will it teach the children method in ordering their experiences?
II. Will it develop relationships leading to organization of experience?
12. Is the experience involved socially constant or socially variable?
13. Are the fields of subject matter involved worthwhile, repre-sentative
of the big aspects of life?
14. Is it related to other activities of the children?
15. How often and how recently have similar activities been ex-perienced?
16. Will it contribute to the child's efficiency?
17. Is it in line with the theory of increasing difficulty?
18. Is it practicable under school conditions?
19. Are materials and helps needed available?
*From "Criteria for Evaluating Activities."—Dr. Lois Mossman.
34 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
20. How fully can the activity be carried out?
21. How much time will it consume?
22. What difficulties may arise in carrying it out?
Each teacher whose class had worked out an activity was asked to
return on blanks sent out from the office the following information:
(1) Name of activity, (2) aim, (3) results, and (4) sources of help.
These were mimeographed and returned to the teachers by grades.
This, together with demonstration lessons centering around some activity,
stimulated increased interest in the work. In the teachers' meetings
conducted in the individual schools the following books were found to
be most helpful: Annie Moore's Primary School, Rose Knox's School
Activities and Equipment, and the Lincoln School Curriculum. (The
activity program seems to have stimulated library reading on the part
of the teachers. The average .number of professional books read by each
teacher during the term was five.)
2. Types of Activity: A partial list of the various types of activities
—
many of which overlap—follows:
a. Scientific and Social—History, Geography, Science, Industry, and
Number.
Under this came: Transportation; Indians; Eskimaux; Thanksgiving;
Excursions; Pottery; Maps; Study of paper; Play City—Charlotte;
Animals—gold fish, tadpoles; Birds; Gardening; Party; Jobs; Museum;
Collecting specimens of rocks, trees, leaves.
b. Constructive Activites—including all kinds of hand work, Fine
Arts, Industrial Arts, Jobs, Plays:
Making houses, stores, etc.; Furniture; Rugs, curtains, pottery; Draw-ing—
use of larger muscles, rather than finger muscles; Painting; Writ-ing;
Soap carving book-ends, shelves, cases, and calendar plaques.
c. English Activities—Language, Literature, and Reading:
Bulletin Board—Daily News; Record of own experiences; Play;
Puppet Show; Story-telling ; Reading to find answer to own questions;
Committee reports and floor talks; and Reading Circle.
d. Artistic and Recreational Activities—Art, Music, and Play:
Excursions; Trips to library; Picture studies and pictures from
library; Music appreciaton; Rhythm orchestras; Dramatization; Group
games; Pantomimes; Pageants.
(These differ from other activities only in aim. The aim here is
always to create beauty and self-expression, and to develop appreciation
of the beautiful in everyday life and surroundings.)
3. Supplementary Work: Through the splendid cooperation of both
teachers and principals the following supplementary work has been
accomplished on a county-wide basis:
Thrift—44% of pupils in average daily attendance were depositors
at the bank at close of school and members of Thrift Clubs.
Music Appreciation—1,080 pupils enrolled in State Music Appreciation
Contest.
Pupil's Reading Circle—63% of total enrollment received certificates
for having read six or more books. Average number of books read by
each pupil enrolled—10.
Home Nursing and Care of Sick—course conducted by Red Cross
graduate nurse in six schools.
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 35
Supervised lunch periods. (Hot lunches in six schools.)
Pre-school clinics-^-65% of estimated enrollment in attendance.
Social Hygiene course for all 'teen age boys and girls.
Health Clubs—stressing right health habits, diet, weighing, and
measuring.
Citizenship Clubs with enrollment of 3,852 pupils.
4. Results of the Year's Work: One per cent less pupils are over age
for grade than last year. The average age has been reduced. The
improvement in attendance was 3%, and the number of pupils promoted
increased 6%.
Just how much of this has been due to our activity program it is
difficult to say, but we do know that it has afforded opportunity for
development of self-reliance, cooperation, consideration of others, fair
play, leadership, good sportsmanship, honesty, and other habits of citizen-ship
which are so sorely needed.
FREE ACTIVITY WORK IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES
(Annie Wilcox, Teacher, Carteret County Public Schools,
Newport, North Carolina)
The subject assigned me is Activity Work in the Elementary Grades.
I shall not attempt, however, to cover such a broad topic, but will tell
you something of the activity program carried on in the first grades
of our school last year.
Free activity work is that type of work which provides the child
with varied, interesting and worthwhile activities, in the participation of
which he grows in subject-matter and develops certain desirable qualities
that make for better citizenship. We know that experience is the most
direct route to knowledge. Some one has said, "I would not have a child
say 'I know' but 'I have experienced.' " After a child has taken part
in an activity program he is able to say, "I know because I have ex-perienced,"
for this program furnishes necessary experience.
I have heard that in order to have a successful activity program,
three things are necessary; movable furniture, movable pupils, and
movable teachers. I am sure that the movable teacher is the most
important of the three, because if she is movable she can very easily
make the furniture and pupils movable. It is absolutely essential that
the teacher stay in the background and let the children do the planning.
Of course she has to be on the alert to direct wisely, set standards and
handle any situation that may arise.
In an activity program one may have as many centers of work as
equipment, furniture and space will permit. Of course the larger the
space the easier it is to carry on the work, however, an average size
school room may easily be converted into a workshop if the furniture
is light and movable. Even the old stationary desks can very easily be
made movable by nailing two or three desks to two narrow strips. In
our room we had three large tables that would seat eight or ten children,
a dozen individual desks, a large work table which was used for the
clay center and the library furniture. We had ten centers, as follows:
36 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
1. The reading center, which we called our library. This was the
most attractive spot in the room! We had low book cases with slanting
shelves, a reading table, a bench and two chairs in there, all of which
were painted in an attractive color scheme. We had about sixty first
grade books in the library.
2. The tool center in which the children did construction work with
hammer, saw, and nails.
3. The clay center where the children used clay for modeling various
things.
4. The painting center in which the children worked at an easel
with brushes and cold water paints. They painted original pictures,
illustrated stories, and reproduced pictures.
5. The drawing center where the children drew on paper with colored
crayons and at the board with colored chalk.
6. The printing center in which the children used a printing press
and newsprint for printing words, stories, and numbers.
7. The science center which was made up of natural things brought
in and learned about by the children.
8. The weaving center in which the children strung up frames and
wove rugs, mats, etc., of rags.
9. The play center in which the children played in the doll house or
with any games or playthings they happened to bring to school.
10. The sewing center where the children sewed for their dolls and
made anything else needed in the room.
As soon as the children entered the room in the morning, they had
a short conference, each one stating what he intended doing during the
work period. I very often had to offer suggestions because frequently
a child would want to go to something else before he had finished a
piece of work already begun. From the beginning I tried to make them
see that making things that were of no use was a waste of time. During
the work period each child went about his particular task asking for
help when needed and offering suggestions to others whenever he could.
I moved around among them making notes from which I made my perma-nent
activity records.
These are some of the things made during the year: A doll house;
the home of The Three Bears; a paint box; two chairs; a bench; pencil
holders; wall vases; flower bowls and book-ends for the library; clothes
for the doll family; pitcher and cracker bowls; and work aprons and
white aprons, and caps for those who sewed during the mid-morning
lunch.
After the children worked about thirty minutes, I either played the
victrola or rang a bell and the children immediately stopped work, put
away materials, swept the floor, scrubbed the clay table and put the
room in order . After they washed their hands they returned to their
groups and discussed what they had done, made a story about it and
decided which one should tell the story. When I asked for a report from
a group, the one chosen displayed the work done by that group and
told the story they had made. The children then discussed the work,
saying whether they did or did not like it and why, giving suggestions
for improvement. Quite often I have seen a child exhibit a piece of work
which he considered finished, but after the conference period he would
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 37
say, "I'm going to work on this again tomorrow and fix it right." It
was during this conference period that I accomplished most in setting
standards.
After the stories and discussions, the children decided which story
was best and I wrote that story on the board and had as many children
read it as wanted to. Then we had a short phrase and word drill. In
the afternoon I printed that story and added it to our activity reading
chart. The next day they read the story in printed form and had
another phrase and word drill. Quite often we went back and reviewed
some of the old stories.
I consider that the mid-morning lunch was one of the most important
features of our program. We were unable to serve this lunch every day
because we did not have the necessary materials. However, on the days
we did have it—for instance if we served cocoa—some children carried
milk, some cocoa and others sugar. The Home Economics girls prepared
it for us and four children served. They used a sheet from a magazine
for a mat, and a quarter of a paper towel for a napkin for each child.
We had a nice socialized lunch period, after which those who served
cleared the tables, washed dishes and put everything in order. These
are some of the advantages of this lunch period: It improves the child's
table manners generally, teaches him the proper things to talk about
while eating, brings in good health habits, and trains for table service.
I was at Newport some time after school closed last spring, and one day
the janitor's little girl was at my home at lunch time. She had lunch
with us and it was surprising to see how well she handled her silver
and her napkin, and what nice manners she had throughout the meal.
I know this was a result of mid-morning lunches because she has had
absolutely no home training along that line.
It is impossible to evaluate fully the benefits of this work at this
time. It seems quite obvious to me, however, that the children have
achieved the following advantages: (1) Greater happiness, (2) the
development of judgment, self-confidence, and independent thinking, (3) a
cooperative attitude, (4) a desire to do more and better work, and (5) an
improvement in vocabulary and sentence sense.
I must say also that more than anything I ever tried, it helps retarded
children to meet with some success. At first they showed very little
interest in the work, but after a while they became interested in doing
things and wanted to tell about what they had done. Then they were
more interested in reading their own stories than any story in a book.
The little fellow who used his table for a foot stool made a story about
it and quite frequently he would ask that we turn to his story and let
him read it. One of my boys had been in the first grade two years
already, and I had had him one of those years. Before we started our
activity work last year, I was terribly discouraged about him because he
was doing nothing. After we started the new program, however, he
became intensely interested in reading the activity stories. He learned
the words and phrases so well that we were able to promote him at the
end of the year.
If first grade children are happy and interested in this type of work,
why shouldn't it be just as effective in the other grades? We have a
very deplorable condition in our school, which probably also exists in
38 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
other schools. Last year we enrolled about eighty-five in our first grades
and about thirty in the seventh grade. Why so many drop out is some-thing
to think about. After the experience that I had last year, I am
thoroughly convinced that we would have fewer retarded children and
would not lose so many children on the day they became fourteen if we
had a child-centered program throughout the elementary school.
AN ACTIVITY PROGRAM FOR PRIMARY DEPARTMENTS
(Mrs. James A. Robinson, Supervisor of Elementary Grades,
Durham, N. C.) )
Setting up a real activity program for the Primary Departments is
such a broad problem that I shall not even attempt it, but will present
briefly, some types of activities that we have found worthwhile in the
primary grades in the Durham City Schools.
Activities in the primary grades, especially in the first year, should
grow out of the experiences and environment of the pupils. It is not an
easy matter for the teacher to turn from the old ways of doing things
to the new and it seems wise to begin with quiet types of activity at
first, such as drawing, cutting, building with blocks, etc., which involve
fewer movements and adjustments. By degrees come greater freedom
in choice of both topic and material.
From the first the children should be encouraged to try out their own
ideas and if possible to correct their own mistakes. "Children are capable
of doing far more in planning, thinking, and actual work, than most
teachers either realize or permit." Work once begun should be finished.
In all plans there should be thought for both beauty and utility; for
practical detail and fundamental principles; and for healthy questioning
minds and for awakening interests. A flexible schedule is essential. The
two-group plan always leaves one division free for work. The amount
of time allowed for this work is not definitely indicated. Some teachers
allow thirty minutes on the program while others have longer periods.
Some types of reading and other activities that always prove worth-while
may be briefly summarized as follows:'
1. Making books of various kinds.
a. Booklets of experiences, family, pets, toys, circuses, etc.
1. With pictures.
2. With names under pictures.
3. With sentences.
4. With units composed by the pupils.
b. Scrap book.
c. Joke book (illustrated with drawings and cuttings)
.
d. Riddle book.
e. Clippings.
f. Original jingles and rhymes.
g. Health book, etc.
h. Class book (work left for incoming grade in September)
.
2. Reading from story books brought from home or made by pupils
from old discarded readers at the opening exercises, during a
special period for supplementary reading or in auditorium.
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 39
3. Bulletin board—News corner (cork, beaver board, or blackboard).
a. Greetings.
b. Riddles.
c. Surprise picture with a sentence or two written under it.
d. Simple announcements (birthdays, weather reports, surprises,
etc.). In grades 2 and 3 children are encouraged to write
something of interest, original riddles, jingles, etc., on the
bulletin board. Many of these boards were made by the pupils.
4. Following directions by drawing, cutting, modeling, writing, sew-ing,
or action.
5. Reading preparatory: To dramatization, to making moving pic-tures,
puppet and peep show.
6. Reading story for another group of children.
7. Library period: Posters and placards were placed above cases
and tables calling attention to the way to handle books.
8. Plans and aims are kept constantly in view, either on chart or
blackboard, as a constant reminder to children. For example:
(a) Our plans for week, (b) our plans for month, and (c) this
week let us aim
—
9. What it means to be a good citizen: Children select and practice
the qualities that make for good citizenship. They gain habits,
skills, feelings, and ideas of value to them. For example: (a) Do
my daily work to the best of my ability, (b) be courteous to
everybody, and (c) help to keep our class room neat and orderly.
10. Pupils suggest qualities to cultivate.
11. Many suggestions on board, as:
a. Am I
—
Am I disturbing my class? Am I wasting my time? Am I
doing my best? Am I improving my work? Am I helping
someone to improve?
b. Are you a good workman? Watch yourself today.
c. Is your work here? Specimens of best work executed during
the day.
12. Each room keeps a chart of school duties.
a. Host or hostess and committees named every week in some
rooms, every two weeks in others.
13. Wild flower garden.
14. Newspaper of short stories, simple poems, news items, riddles, and
jingles selected or written by pupils. Nothing has done so much
to stimulate interest in writing, spelling, language, and drawing,
as these papers in the primary grades. A sheet a week is usually
made by a group. The papers are preserved for the incoming
pupils in the fall who thoroughly enjoy them.
15. A stanza or two of some poem conveying a beautiful thought or
a helpful suggestion may always be found on the blackboard.
16. Recognition of good work and good workers by teacher (written
on board), as, Tom and Mary were our best readers today. Best
spellers (followed by names of pupils who are best spellers),
Felix, John, and Caroline were such quiet workers today.
40 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
17. Reading Club. (Pupils to be eligible for membership must read
according to standards set and must read two books from the
library, either home, school, or public library.)
18. Charts containing songs, poems, stories, and games that have
been learned, also books that have been read.
19. Dutch Village (sand tray) . Indian Village. Early Settlers.
20. Doll House.
The class booklets dedicated to the incoming grades are a joy and
delight to the authors and a great inspiration and incentive to the new
pupils who are eager to leave a record just as good or even a little better.
BIG UNIT TEACHING IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES
(Karl Adams, Professor of Education, E. C. T. C,
Greenville, North Carolina)
The practice of using the "big unit" idea for instructional purposes
in the American schools, according to one writer, was introduced about
1910, or a little prior to that time. Its first use was in connection with
teaching agriculture. Since then it has been given a tremendous amount
of publicity. Under one name or another much space in our educational
journals, books and lectures en teaching, and periodicals has been devoted
to its explanation, justification, and praise. There are those who urge
its virtues as a curative for all educational ills. Some proclaim it for
its worth in motivating effort; some praise it for its magic effect over
individual differences; some support it for its power to remove problems
of discipline; some advocate it for instruction of the weakminded; and
some make it the only correct and properly effective basis for making
our elementary curricula. If these statements express the facts, then,
one is prompted to ask: What is meant by "big unit" teaching and how
is one to acquire the ability to use it? Answers are offered here to these
questions, but they are not to be regarded as complete. Also consider-ation
is limited to the elementary grades.
What is meant by "big unit" teaching? Several terms have been
employed as the title designation of this idea. Some of them are: "Unit
of study, project, type study, enlarged object lesson, or instructional
unit." To enter into a discussion of each of these terms and its par-ticular
meaning is not considered practical for this short paper. One
can very well get at the nature and understanding of them through
the use of one. For this purpose the term "project" is used. The ques-tion,
then, becomes: What is meant by "project" teaching? (Note: The
mooted question of whether it is a method is purposely avoided here.)
Some say one thing; some say another. Those who talk and write for
its cause are not agreed as to just what it is. Hosic says, "It is the
name for what happens when an individual, or group, sets about accom-plishing
a purpose, and in carrying it out brings about changes in his
(or their) knowledge, skills, habits, or attitudes." In this statement the
central idea seems to be "learning." Charters states, "A project is a
problematic act carried to completion in its natural setting." He has
included two ideas, namely, the "problem" and the "naturalness" of its
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 41
setting. McMurry denies it the quality of "naturalness," but insists
"Projects are enterprises undertaken by boys or girls or by men and
women looking toward desired results." "Planning toward some aim" is
the chief trait here. Kilpatrick limits it to "wholeheartedly purposeful
activity." He appears to be thinking about the learner's "attitude." It
may be that all these writers have in mind something similar, but to
the untrained these statements possess the possibility of confusion.
In a course of educational tests for the grades at East Carolina
Teachers College there are fifty-eight students. These fifty-eight students
are professionally divided as follows: Thirty-five teachers, four princi-pals,
three of whom have been and are still teachers, and twenty-two
who are planning to teach, but as yet have had no experience. Of the
thirty-five experienced members of this class, nineteen have tried to make
use of the project in their teaching. Only nine of this number have had
any training for it. Of the twenty-two who have had no experience,
fourteen stated that they intend to try to make use of the project when
they take up the work of teaching. Of these fourteen twelve have, up
to this time, had no training in its use.
Each member of this class was asked to state the meaning of "project,"
or "big units" in teaching. Each one did so. Examination of these
replies revealed several interesting things. The nineteen experienced
teachers who had made use of the project, or some other form of the
large unit, employed fifteen different ideas in their answers. Of these
fifteen ideas, nine of them occurred only once each. "Creating interest"
occurred most often. It appeared in seven papers. "Correlation of school
subjects" was found in six, while "unifying school activities" was found
only four times. The replies of the twenty-two students who had had
no teaching experience were also examined. The terms they used varied
very little in meaning from those used by the experienced members of
the class.
The quotations from writers made in an earlier paragraph of this
paper and the replies from the members of the class given above rather
indicatively suggest that there is still some lack of understanding among
writers and teachers as to the meaning of this much-used term. It calls
to mind the incident of the school boy who was out hunting with his
insect net. His teacher asked him what he was hunting for and he
replied, "Wooglies." The teacher being unfamiliar with this species of
insect asked the boy what it looked like. The boy replied that he did
not know; he had never seen one. And so it seems here. Those who are
pleading for the use of some form of large unit in instruction, and even
those who are now trying its use, appear very much at sea in giving
definite statement to what they are after. What is the project? What
is the large unit in teaching? It may be safe to suggest that the large
unit in teaching is a plan of organizing the materials for instruction.
This organization must be around a central idea; it must include all
relevant materials and activities from the curriculum; and promote
motivation through interest. Even this statement does not include any-thing
about the child's participation. But one has to stop somewhere.
A careful study of the writings on the matter, and the efforts of teachers
in its use reveals one significant fact. It is the tendency to take the
curriculum to the child instead of the old practice of taking the child
42 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
to the curriculum. In all the "pros" and "cons" of this large unit affair
the child is beginning to emerge as the center of school activities. And
that is as it should be. Learning is nothing more nor less than having
experiences. And teaching is selecting and organizing the materials of
instruction in the child's school life so that his most desirable development
will be promoted through these selected experiences.
How is one to acquire the ability to use this teaching device? In
the absence of a more refined philosophy and aim of the project, and a
more definite pronouncement of its characteristics and method of organi-zation,
most any sort of an answer to this question is dangerous. It
seems, however, that the simplest way to do this is to go to some teachers
college and be trained for it. But it is not quite that simple. For some
reason or other colleges do not give loud publicity to the fact that they
offer such training. An examination of thirty-five 1929 catalogs and sum-mer
school announcements from teachers' colleges, State universities, nor-mal
schools, and various other colleges having departments of education
showed that only nine of these institutions advertised training in the use
of the project, or some other form of large unit teaching. Sometimes
this training was offered in a general methods course and sometime for
some special subject like "Teaching Reading," or "Teaching Language,"
etc. Whenever mention was made of it, it was usually along with a
large number of other topics to be studied in the same course. For
instance, one college mentioned it with twelve others, such as, "social
objectives, factors of environment, special types of learning, the principle
of interest," etc. These thirteen topics were to be done in one year's
time at the rate of one reading hour and one recitation hour per week.
It is noteworthy that a great deal of training in the use of large units
is not offered and, wherever training is offered, it does not carry the
earmarks of thoroughness. A similar situation is encountered when one
examines the answers of the fifty-eight students referred to above. The
largest amount of training indicated by anyone of them was "about two
weeks." If the condition obtains generally that is revealed here, certainly
there is little encouragement for one to seek training in the use of the
project.
Another way to acquire ability in the use of the project is to procure
literature on it, study this literature, work out a plan, and go to it.
According to the replies from the students in the test course mentioned
above, this seems to be the most prevalent practice. It will be recalled
that, of the nineteen experienced teachers who had used the project,
less than half had had training for it. Of the fourteen inexperienced
teachers who were expecting to use it only two had had training for it.
To say that a teacher must sponsor his own training in this form of
instruction is perhaps stating a near fact. For one to attempt self-instruction
about the project and its uses, it will be necessary to invoke
the aid of some guiding principles. Some sort of technique will also be
necessary, but that must be left to the individual. Below are stated
some suggestions which might serve as guiding principles. (1) Start
with a purpose. (2) Use simple projects at first. (3) In the project
activity make the thing to be done pertinent to the purpose of the project
undertaken. (4) Avoid the use of materials or procedure that wastes
the child's time. (5) Make it a practice to present the materials of
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 43
instruction in the simplest and most direct manner. In other words,
if the thing can be taught without the use of the project, don't use it.
(6) Avoid the use of exciting elements in situations, if learning is
desired. (7) The maximum of the child's time spent on big units should
probably not exceed fifty percent of his total school time. (8) Remember
that the practice of allowing children to select what is to be done is laden
with many dangers. It must be kept in mind that they are likely to
err in the choice of what they need. On the other hand the other extreme
is also undesirable. Train them to select. The proper balance between
the selection of materials that will give the child training along the lines
nature has started him, and the materials which provide the experiences
the race has found most profitable is a problem which still requires some
thought for solution. (9) Some failures are to be expected. Success
rewards only effort. (10) Finally, don't abandon successful methods
and technique for something doubtful.
RECREATIONAL READING IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES
(Grace Brunson, Teacher, Winston-Salem Public Schools,
Weston-Salem, North Carolina)
Since we, as school administrators and teachers, realize how truly
recreational reading gives wings to the imagination, lifts the common-place
things to planes of beauty, stimulates endeavor to do greater things,
and creates ideals of higher living, we are convinced that recreational
reading helps greatly in solving the problem of which Dr. Samuel Chester
Parker spoke, when he said, "We are concerned with the problem of
bringing as much of fun and frolic and quiet contemplative enjoyment
into the lives of the people as we can without interfering with their
service of society.
A favorable attitude toward reading "just for pleasure" has been
rapidly developing in our schools within the past few years, probably
due in a large measure, to the emphasis placed on silent reading which
has undoubtedly increased to a marked degree the reading rate and com-prehension
of the children, and has made necessary the supplying of
more varied reading materials to satisfy their desire to explore strange
and unknown worlds through their reading activities. Well selected
grade and school libraries with a wide range of reading to satisfy the
varying abilities and tastes, hearty coopei'ation with city and county
libraries, and books in the homes are means by which children may be
taught "the habit of indulging in reading as one form of congenial
recreation."
The number of people who have learned to read and do not enjoy
reading is many times too large. The real test of reading instruction is
the extent to which reading interests and tastes carry over into life
outside the schoolroom and on into adult life. Much extensive reading
should be done by pupils of the grammar grades that their experiences
may be extended and enriched. For this extensive reading, an abundance
of material, not too difficult, covering many fields of interest, and full
of action and spirit should be provided. A serious mistake is sometimes
44 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
made in trying to force adult literature and adult standards upon gram-mar
grade children, and instead of establishing desirable permanent
reading interests, a distaste for reading, in general, is formed.
During the past school year, the Grammar Grade Teachers of the
North Carolina Education Association conducted a research study on
"Recreational Reading in the Grammar Grades of North Carolina." It
was my privilege to serve on the central committee and to make the
final report on this study at the State meeting in March. We feel that
as a result of this research study, some rather valuable data on the
status of recreational reading in the larger schools of the State were
obtained. I have been requested to give a very brief summary of some
phases of this research report this afternoon. Questionnaires, formulated
by the central committee, were sent out through the office of the State
Department to the principals of the larger schools of the State. Eighty-eight
returns, some being the combined reports of entire counties, were
received by the committee.
The grammar grade pupils, included in these returns, totalled 10,297
from schools whose grammar grade enrollment ranged from 91 to 597.
Ninety per cent of these pupils had access to school libraries ranging
in size from 50 to 4,205 volumes of recreational reading, while seventy-three
per cent of these pupils had access to a county or city library,
but only twenty-six per cent of them had cards. Only five schools
reported subscriptions to a daily newspaper. Eighty-one per cent of
these pupils had a regular time during the school day for recreational
reading, averaging one period a week of twenty-three minutes in length.
Seventy-two per cent of them observed Good Book Week, eighty-six per
cent had reading clubs. Thirty-three per cent of them had access to
library vacation reading clubs, but only six per cent were members.
Only fourteen per cent of the children reported home libraries with as
many as fifteen volumes of recreational reading for children, and only
five per cent of the pupils had access to their school libraries during
vacation.
From this part of the report, we see that two of the decided weak-nesses
seem to be in the homes which are so deficient in providing good
recreational reading, and in the provisions made for vacation reading by
the schools, and the limited participation in public library vacation read-ing
clubs.
Some of the public libraries are doing a remarkable work in the
vacation reading clubs. Being familiar with the library in Winston-
Salem, I know that for four summers they have conducted reading clubs,
each member of which was required to read and report on at least
twelve books from a graded list to receive an award at the end of the
summer. During the winter they have two "story hours" each week;
one for the white children and one for the colored children.
Other parts of the report on the research study contained methods
of caring for individual differences among children, a list of the twenty-five
most popular books found • in the school libraries, a list of the new
books suitable for grammar grade children, and a suggested list of
children's magazines.
In conclusion, may I summarize the following methods of encouraging
recreational reading in the grammar grades: Well-selected school and
Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education 45
grade libraries with a wide range of reading, hearty cooperation with
public libraries, good home libraries, "story hours" in the schools given
by the librarians, book exhibits of attractive editions, book programs
—
some communities need to be aroused to the realization that books offer a
means of recreation—and pageants and plays which have a special charm
for most people. Any combination of these methods or others are worth-while
if they result in creating a real desire to read, for good reading
"feeds the spirit and provides for a wholesome leisure."
STANDARD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN NORTH CAROLINA
(Susan Fulghum, State Inspector of Elementary Schools,
State Department of Public Instruction, Raleigh, N. C.)
Foreword: This paper will attempt to give data concerning three
phases of education in the public elementary schools of North Carolina,
namely: (1) The increase in number of schools, 1925-1929; (2) the
use of the library in connection with large unit studies; and (3) the
outstanding needs of the elementary schools in North Carolina.
1. Growth: There are today 326 standard elementary schools in the
State with an enrollment of more than 157,000 children or approximately
one-third of the total elementary school enrollment for 1928-1929.
Five years ago when the standards for elementary schools were first
set up, there were 270 rural schools which had the proper length of
term and number of teachers—but only 26 of these schools met all
requirements and could be classified as standard schools. There has been
great progress each year and today of the 445 rural schools with an
eight months term and seven teachers, 208 are standard schools.
In the cities of the State rapid progress has been made each year
and today there are 118 standard elementary schools as compared with
30 such schools five years ago. And the growth of the libraries in
standard elementary schools is most encouraging. Five years ago, except
in some of the cities, very few elementary schools had even small libraries.
At that time, in the larger rural schools there was a total of less than
8,000 books. But the situation today presents a vastly different picture.
Perhaps, in no phase of our educational progress has greater interest been
shown. There has been wonderful growth each year, and today, in the
standard elementary schools of the State alone, there are more than
279,000 volumes with more than 113,000 of these in the rural schools.
These carefully selected interesting books have been widely read, for the
records from the schools show more than 70,000 rural children reading
library books, and 600,000 volumes loaned during the present year. In
the city schools which are now standard, there are more than 165,000
volumes. The circulation record for both rural and city standard ele-mentary
schools show more than 1,200,000 books read by the children
this year.
The long list of standard schools by counties and cities, shows how
untiringly the people of the State have worked, especially the Parent-
Teacher Associations, to place a standard elementary school within the
reach of every child. All of the larger rural schools and the city schools
46 Fifth N. C. Conference on Elementary Education
which have not yet met all requirements for standard schools, are working
earnestly toward this end and a large number will become standard
next year.
2. Use of the Library in Connection With Large Unit Studies: It h